John Catsimatidis used a Port Authority Police softball tournament on Staten Island Friday to swing for the fences in a late-inning effort to defeat GOP mayoral contender Joe Lhota.
“You guys do such a great job protecting New York’s greatest assets. I was annoyed that anybody would dare criticize you,” Catsimatidis said to about 200 PA officers before the ballgames began.
“Why would anybody badmouth them? That I could never understand.”
The supermarket magnate was referring to Lhota’s comments in May referring to PA officers as “mall cops.”
The billionaire grocer has been milking Lhota’s gaffe throughout his self-funded campaign — including in mailers and in an advertisement featuring a former PA cop.
He also took a whack at Lhota’s close alliance with former Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who is scheduled to stump with his former deputy over the weekend.
“Nobody knows who Joe Lhota is,” said Castimatidis. “I’m running against Rudy, it looks like.”
Lhota spokeswoman Jessica Proud shot back that Catsimatdis is a “desperate candidate who is spending millions of dollars in nasty, negative personal attacks in a last-ditch attempt to move poll numbers that show him poised for an embarrassing defeat.”
“Voters aren’t buying what he’s selling. Maybe he should stick to his overpriced milk.”
The latest Quinnipiac poll had Lhota at 48 percent compared to Cats’ 24 percent.