Former Detroit, Michigan police chief and Republican gubernatorial candidate James Craig, speaking on Fox News on Monday, denounced progressive public officials who retain security professionals while bashing police and firearm owners.
Craig expressed his reprehension in response to reports of campaign finance documents showing Representative Cori Bush (D-MO-1) has spent $70,000 on private security professionals. Yet the idea of greater funding for security for everyday citizens has upset the congresswoman.
“Investing more money in policing is always bad, actually,” wrote Bush on Twitter in May.
Bush’s comments quickly received castigation from others on the social media platform. Will Saletan of the liberal webzine Slate wrote, “No one who thinks that simplistically should be anywhere near public office.” Republican communications advisor Matt Whitlock responded facetiously to the congresswoman, “Thank you for your work.”
In addition to Bush, the Los Angeles City Council and Mayor Eric Garcetti, the latter of whom called cops “killers” while embracing a $150 million defunding of his city’s police last year, received Craig’s ire. Motor City’s former police chief said he doubted that the mayor would welcome cutbacks to his own security detail.
“It’s comedy; it’s hypocrisy,” Craig told Fox host John Roberts. “And I got to tell you: Do I believe that security is important for public officials? Yes. I ran a security detail for the mayor and the police chief and the city attorney out in Los Angeles when I was out there at one point. I understand the necessity.”
The gubernatorial candidate jestingly suggested that, because leftists sometimes argue funds allocated for crime reduction should go toward hiring social workers, left-wing politicians should hire such workers for their security teams.
He also blasted the anti-gun rhetoric of Bush and her political compatriots, saying that upstanding private citizens should enjoy the protection of their own guns if they choose to legally acquire them, calling gun-buyback efforts like those in Chicago and Philadelphia “a comedy show.”
“We are going to defund the police and hurt vulnerable communities and then take guns away from law-abiding citizens?” Craig said. “That’s a recipe for failure.”
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Bradley Vasoli is a reporter at The Michigan Star and The Star News Network. Follow Brad on Twitter at @BVasoli. Email tips to [email protected].
