Manhattan Assemblywoman Yuh-Line Niou is again claiming credit for a state funding “first” that other pols delivered before her, records show.
The campaign website for Niou, who is seeking the Democratic nod in Tuesday’s crowded 10th Congressional District primary, boasts that she won “the first-ever state funding for public housing repairs.”
The progressive pol took office in 2017 representing Chinatown and Lower Manhattan. She has said she secured $250 million in state money for NYCHA in 2018.
Assemblywoman Yuh-Line Niou bragged about securing the “first-ever state funding for public housing repairs” on her campaign website. http://www.nioufornewyork.com
But that was three years after then-Assemblyman Keith Wright had allocated $100 million in state funds for housing authority repairs.
“It was the first infusion of state money, certainly, in a very long time. In decades actually,” Wright told The Post. “It’s something I’m actually very, very proud of.”
Wright, now the head of the New York County Democrats, said he hadn’t seen Niou’s claim and couldn’t comment on it.
The state funding, which was matched with city money, was announced at the time by former Mayor de Blasio and other officials.
“I am pleased to work with Mayor de Blasio and members of the Assembly majority to invest in much-needed repairs for these NYCHA buildings,” Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie said in 2015.
Niou has previously said that prior to her 2016 election, no Asian-American group received state funding and that the term was not even included in the state budget. But the phrase Asian American had appeared in most budget bills between 1997 and 2016, records show.
Soon after being elected, she said in an interview she was working on her first piece of legislation requiring certain disclosures when a nursing home closes. She introduced the bill, but it was merely a carbon copy of what had already been introduced in the state Senate.
Assemblywoman Yuh-Line Niou did not acknowledged that past politicians such as former Assemblyman Keith Wright acquired funding for public housing renovations. AP Photo/Seth Wenig
Assemblywoman Yuh-Line Niou is locked in a tight race for the 10th Congressional district. AP Photo/Mary AltafferNiou is relinquishing her Assembly seat in a bid to represent the newly drawn 10th Congressional district that goes from Lower Manhattan through brownstone Brooklyn. Her opponents include House impeachment lawyer Dan Goldman, Rep. Mondaire Jones, Councilwoman Carlina Rivera, Assemblywoman Jo Anne Simon and former Congresswoman and Brooklyn DA Elizabeth Holtzman.
A spokesman for Niou did not immediately return requests for comment.
