NYC transit union threatens to sue GOP mayoral hopeful Curtis Sliwa over 'defamatory' comments

Chris Sommerfeldt, New York Daily News on Jul 28, 2025

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NEW YORK — The politically influential Transport Workers Union is threatening to sue Republican mayoral candidate Curtis Sliwa over “defamatory and false” comments he recently made about the labor group.

In a letter sent to Sliwa on Monday, John Samuelsen, the TWU’s international president, wrote that the mayoral hopeful engaged in the remarks during a July 24 rally at City Hall organized by NYCLASS, a group advocating for a ban on horse-carriage rides in Central Park.

Samuelsen, whose union represents horse carriage drivers, wrote he came across Sliwa’s speech in a video of the gathering posted on YouTube.

“In this video, you say, ‘There is money under the table to the TWU leadership.’ This statement is false and defamatory. The statement asserts bribery and/or corruption,” Samuelsen wrote in the letter, a copy of which was obtained by the New York Daily News.

“By this letter, I demand that you issue a written retraction of the statement and offer an apology to the members of the TWU whose leadership you have slandered and defamed,” the union big continued. “If you choose not to act honorably by retracting the false statement, we will commence legal action against you for your actions forthwith. We will seek damages commensurate with the harm done to my reputation and to the reputation of the TWU.”

Sliwa, the Guardian Angels founder who has made animal welfare a big component of his mayoral campaign, rejected Samuelsen’s demand, saying his remarks amounted to “First Amendment protected speech.”

“I offered my opinion on an area of concern for New Yorkers regarding the horse carriage industry and the TWU,” he said. “My statement was generic and not individual specific. I believe Mr. Samuelsen and the TWU have other things to focus on.”

In response, Samuelsen told the Daily News that Sliwa’s comments aren’t “protected by the Constitution and he will pay for it.”

In addition to horse carriage drivers, Samuelsen’s union represents tens of thousands of MTA workers. His union hasn’t endorsed anyone in the 2025 mayoral race, but Samuelsen did appear at a June 14 rally for Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic mayoral nominee, where he praised Mamdani’s proposal to make public buses free in the city.

The horse carriage industry has long been a source of controversy in New York, with animal rights activists condemning the practice as inhumane, while TWU and other supporters of workers say banning it would destroy livelihoods. The union has also maintained reforms can be taken to ensure the safety of the horses.

Last week’s City Hall rally was held to call on the City Council to adopt a bill that would ban the local horse carriage industry. The rally came days after a Manhattan jury acquitted a horse carriage driver who was indicted in 2023 on animal abuse charges for allegedly forcing his horse, Ryder, to work in scorching summer temperatures.

As the Republican candidate, Sliwa faces long odds in November’s mayoral election, given the city’s heavily Democratic electorate.

Sliwa, who also ran for mayor in 2021, has been especially upbeat about his prospects this year, though, as the field is more crowded than in a typical local election year. In addition to Mamdani on the Democratic line and Sliwa on the GOP line, Mayor Eric Adams, Andrew Cuomo and Jim Walden are running as independents in November’s contest, creating a vote-splitting scenario Sliwa hopes might benefit him.

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