Democratic socialist City Council members have been bragging about big budget “wins” even though they voted against the spending plan — and now some sources are calling the misplaced bluster “hilarious hypocrisy.”
Council members Tiffany Caban, Alex Aviles and Shahana Hanif were the sole dissenting Big Apple lawmakers who complained that too much was being spent on the NYPD in the $112.4 billion 2025 budget, which was hammered out by City Hall and council leadership at the 11th hour at the end of June.
But that didn’t stop Hanif from emailing her Brooklyn constituents twice in the following weeks touting the nearly $14 million in “capital budget wins” that she claimed to have secured for District 39 and her “incredible partnership” with Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, according to emails obtained by The Post.
“We are beyond grateful for her close collaboration,” Hanif wrote about the speaker.
Hanif’s no vote though went against Adams, leading to the council member losing out on any shot at the discretionary funds doled out by the speaker in each budget.
For her part, Aviles took credit for helping to land a permanent home for a Sunset Park community organization that assists immigrants.
“I’m proud to have played a key role in securing $1 mil for @MixtecaOrg to move into a better space,” she wrote on X.
The same day, Caban shot off a district email taking credit for restored library funding in the battle with Mayor Eric Adams, who is not related to the speaker.
“My colleagues and I at the City Council fought back against these cuts alongside the Queens Public Library. And thanks to everyone who showed up to rallies, called the Mayor’s office, and organized for our libraries, we WON!” the email said.
None of the left-leaning lawmakers noted though that they had actually voted against the spending deal that made the funding possible.
“These three knuckleheads played politics, which is easy, but didn’t want to do the actual hard work when it came to the budget,” one council source said.
“They voted no, then ran to their constituents to claim credit for it, putting their districts at a disadvantage just to virtue signal and appease a fringe group of anarchist leftists — it’s hilarious hypocrisy.”
Another council source railed, “There’s a long history of politicians decrying pork unless it’s for their district, but politicians taking a victory lap for funding they voted against is exactly the sort of hypocritical behavior that the public hates.”
Sources at the time said the Democratic Socialists of America members had floated trying to put forward their own budget, which never materialized.
A spokesperson for Hanif told The Post that she voted against the budget since it would pass regardless but did not address boasting of financial wins.
“I voted against it because my constituents strongly opposed the Mayor’s substantial cuts to early childhood education, K-12 public schools, CUNY, and parks,” Hanif said in a statement issued through the spokesperson.
Representatives for Aviles and Caban did not respond to a request for comment.
Constituents in Hanif’s district were taken aback by the unhanded politicking.
“It’s extremist political behavior that’s unprincipled and that’s consistent with how Hanif does everything,” said one voter, who asked not to be named due to his job.
“It doesn’t surprise me at all that she’s speaking out of both sides of her mouth.”
Stella Belenkaya told The Post she wasn’t surprised at all by Hanif, who she claimed has ignored the 64-year-old’s request to clean up offensive graffiti in the neighborhood.
“The fact that she’s unresponsive and she didn’t vote for the budget and she argued for zero police, it’s all part of why I don’t want to vote for her,” Belenkaya said.
