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Queens Borough President Donovan Richards bizarrely ripped City Councilman Robert Holden, a fellow Democrat, and his supporters as “white supremacy” in a Twitter spat about congestion pricing.
The ugly fight between the two pols, who are on on different ends of the spectrum in the same party, began after Holden tweeted Thursday that the MTA’s controversial congestion pricing plan — which would charge motorists to drive into Manhattan below 60th Street — was “another tax on hardworking New Yorkers.”
Holden joined a bi-partisan press conference with other elected officials including Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-Staten Island/Brooklyn) calling for Gov. Hochul, who supports congestion pricing, to put the issue to a referendum.
In a letter to Hochul, the officials noted issues with congestion pricing including “the disproportionate harm this plan will have on working- and middle-class New Yorkers.”
Richards retweeted Holden’s message and snarked, “After he loses this election let’s elect an actual Democrat.”
A Holden supporter named Secret Squirrel responded to Richards, tweeting, “He’s one of the few that represents us.”
That led Donovan to tweet, “Yeah white supremacy.”
Holden is not running for re-election but is backing Hochul’s Republican opponent, Rep. Lee Zeldin, in Tuesday’s gubernatorial election. Richards, a progressive, called for defunding the NYPD when he was a City Council member.
Richards immediately took heat from Andrew Fine, a Manhattan community activist, who tweeted, “I think this is really inappropriate. Why are you injecting race into this? Congestion Pricing divides New Yorkers by economic status.”
Zeldin opposes congestion pricing saying it’s a cash grab on those who can least afford it and would also lead to increased traffic in the outer boroughs. The plan is expected to estimated to cost drivers between $9 and $23 during peak hours.
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Another Twitter user named Angry_Mom_NYC responded to Richards saying, “To hear you dismiss a differing opinion so glibly makes me wonder if you truly have the chops to lead our diverse boro.”
Of the 2.3 million residents of Queens, approximately 28% are Hispanic, 27% are Asian, 24% are white, 21% are black, and 1% are Native American.
“Elected officials have a duty to advocate for their constituents — not against them,” Holden told The Post. “For a borough president to attack constituents on social media and call them racist because of a policy disagreement is beyond the pale. But this is what we’ve come to expect from ‘Race Card Richards’. ”
City Councilman Kalman Yeger (D-Brooklyn) called Richards’ comments “divisive and unnecessary – and quite frankly disgusting.”
“We should be able to debate on public policy without the Queens borough president saying disgusting and untruthful things about council members,” Yeger said.
Yeger was also involved in the heated Twitter exchanges with Richards. Richards called him a “Republican” and Yeger fired back, “Drunk tweeting again in the middle of the day, Donovan?”
Richards’ office issued a statement that included no apology.
“Using his personal Twitter account, the borough president was replying directly to the unknown individual or Twitter bot who had tweeted to him.”
The statement went on to say Richards was “also calling attention to the troubling support of the council member, a self-identified Democrat, for a far-right member of Congress.”
