At a recent press conference, Republican candidate Lee Zeldin said that if he’s elected, one of the first things he plans to do is to issue executive orders that would suspend bail reform, Raise the Age and a number of other laws.

State Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie told Errol Louis on “Inside City Hall” Thursday that the Republican is running a "campaign based on soundbites."

“Executive orders and authorities granted by the executive orders are not being allowed to bypass the legislature or laws. So again, you know, Congresssman Zeldin is trying to campaign by soundbite, which is what he’s doing,” he said. “Because in effect, and I said this to all of the people who are opponents of bail, if bail reform is the reason why crime is increasing then why is crime increasing at higher rates in red states, including the state of Texas.” 

Heastie added that Republicans don't talk about the fact that the number of gun sales doubled since the pandemic.

"All illegal guns that end up in the streets, start legal somewhere," he said.

When asked about the calls from former Lt. Governor Bob Duffy and Mayor Eric Adams for the legislature to reconsider bail reform, Heastie said critics, including some Democrats, are looking for a quick answer for why the state is having problems with crime, but that bail reform was not the cause.

Heastie said he’s referring to the Office of Court Administration and Department of Criminal Justice Services to be responsible for monitoring the statistics of bail reform. 

“And both of those agencies said bail reform is not the reason why crime has increased,” he said.