Taking to the podium at the Real Estate Board of New York’s annual holiday luncheon Monday, Paul Massey reminisced about when President-elect Donald Trump gave the same keynote speech decades ago.
“It was like watching Andrew Dice Clay go off on a mid-1980s real estate riff,” he quipped.
Massey, president of New York investment sales at Cushman & Wakefield, pulled no punches during one of his first public speeches since he declared his intention to run for Mayor of New York City. He took aim at incumbent Mayor Bill de Blasio over what he intimated was a substandard work ethic.
“The police will never have to protest me outside my gym at 10.30 a.m.,” he said, a reference to when city cops protested De Blasio over his alleged failure to hammer out new contracts in September. “I’ll already have been at work for four or five hours.”
As mayor, Massey [TRDataCustom], who is running as a Republican in the mold of former Mayor Michael Bloomberg, pledged to “eradicate homelessness” as well as work to reform education. While he didn’t get into his specific plans to do so, he did try to rally his industry peers — attendees included Ralph Herzka of Meridian Capital Group and James Nelson of Cushman — to support his bid, either financially or through word of mouth. He was seen rubbing shoulders with REBNY chair John Banks prior to the lunch.
“I promise to make you proud,” he said.
He noted that he has a much higher aspirational fundraising goal than many of his fellow running mates, though he declined to provide a number. He did, however, say that he would not accept “matching funds” from the city.
“We’ll be considered a very credible and relevant candidate based on how much we’ve raised,” he said.
By contrast, de Blasio has raised $2.24 million for his 2017 reelection effort, according to campaign records from May. Donors include Bill Rudin, Sol Arker, Steven Witkoff, Bruce Ratner, David Lichtenstein and William Zeckendorf, who together have bundled more than $100,000 for the mayor since last October.
As for what he learned from the presidential election process, Massey said it was to take pause before casting a vote.
“We have to have a conversation in advance about our leadership,” he said.