Council Member Bob Holden speaking at a rally in support of the NYPD 108th Precinct in Sunnyside in August 2020. About 150 people turned out in support of the NYPD–including Holden. The supporters were greeted by about 100 protesters. The event took place without incident (Michael Dorgan, Queens Post)
Dec. 6, 2021 By Allie Griffin
Council Member Robert Holden is looking to form a bloc of like-minded moderate colleagues in the City Council to provide a counter to members on the “far left”.
Holden submitted paperwork to the Council Speaker’s Office to form the “Common Sense” caucus about two weeks ago and is confident it will be approved in the coming weeks, he told the Queens Post Friday.
He said about 10 to 12 current council members have expressed interest in joining the caucus.
Council Members Kalman Yeger of Brooklyn and Joseph Borelli of Staten Island are working alongside Holden to create the caucus.
Queens Council Member James Gennaro has also been named as a potential caucus member in published reports, though Holden declined to provide names of members who may join.
The moderate caucus would provide a direct counter to the Council’s progressive caucus, which was formed in 2009 and currently has 20 members. The Council’s other five caucuses are the Black, Asian and Latino caucus; the Irish caucus; the Jewish caucus; the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender caucus; and the women’s caucus.
Holden said he hoped to form the Common Sense caucus four years ago but didn’t have support from the council leadership.
This time around, Holden said there’s growing momentum for more moderate politics because “people are fed up”.
“People see that the city is out of control under de Blasio’s socialist positions,” Holden said. “We need to go back to the center.”
Holden has been an outspoken supporter of the NYPD and has been a harsh critic of the defund the police movement. He has attended several Back the Blue rallies in support of cops, including one in Sunnyside in 2020. He was the only elected official to attend that rally.
.@BobHoldenNYC was immediately interrupted by counter-protesters as he took the mic?️ at pro-@NYPD108Pct rally in #Sunnyside Saturday.
?️“They’re trying to silence us, we won’t be silenced…
We have to #BackTheBlue,” Holden said.@queenspost @sunnysidepost #Queens #protest pic.twitter.com/XSiNn5wn2X
— Michael Dorgan (@MDorganNYC) August 23, 2020
Featured Events
2 Comments
Oh please, I can see this must be a republican and they are trying to stack the deck here like everywhere else in the U.S. I’m sure Trump is not far behind with these people.
We need this! This city and country are no better off today than 15-20 years ago and people are more miserable and unhappy. The left is quick to blame Conservatives for this decline in morale but give me one example of a thriving liberal city. I’m waiting. I know I will receive disrespectful, derogatory replies to my inquiry, but just ask yourself this question: If the policies the left create promise to fix so much how come virtually all of the problems they have been promising to fix for decades now are not only not fixed but they are worse? The left loves to pull the race card on topics like stop and frisk (I am white and have been stopped and frisk 3 times while this was a thing btw) and refuse to admit that if we started stop and frisk tomorrow, and ended our backwards thinking revolving door prison policy this city would be thriving and safe within weeks.