New York Official Caught Taking Down Lee Zeldin Signs: 'Breaking the Law'

A member of the New York state assembly has been caught on video apparently taking down signs for Republican gubernatorial candidate Representative Lee Zeldin and saying the placement of the signs was "breaking the law."

Assemblyman Peter J. Abbate Jr, a Democrat, was filmed removing signs he described as "illegal" from fencing when he was confronted by the person recording the footage.

That footage was shared to Twitter by the official account of the Kings County Republican Committee in Brooklyn, New York, on Tuesday, with the question: "Why is Assemblyman @peterabbatejr taking down @leezeldin signs in Bensonhurst Brooklyn, NY?"

In the video, Abbate tells the person filming him that he's "taking down the illegal signs" and when he's asked why they are illegal, Abbate says: "You're not allowed to put up signs on public property."

The person who confronted Abbate asked him if he thought it could be an issue that he was removing signs for a person running for governor.

"He shouldn't do it. He's breaking the law," Abbate said, before adding: "You can quote me on that saying I think it would be a disgrace for someone running for governor who's breaking the law before he even takes office."

When he was asked whether the signs were a "legit crime," Abbate replied: "This leads to bigger crime. That's the problem we have. People are not enforcing the law."

Abbate also said to the person filming him that he was a serving member of the state assembly. He represents the state's 49th district, which is heavily Democratic.

Inna Vernikov, a Republican who serves as New York City Council minority whip, shared the tweet from Brooklyn Republicans and wrote: "Why is an elected official ripping off @leezeldin campaign signs? Is that what the people elected him to do? Waste of tax $! Classy move @peterabbatejr!"

Both Vernikov and Brooklyn Republicans tagged Abbate's Twitter account, but it does not appear that any posts have been made there since 2017.

Newsweek has contacted Abbate and the Zeldin campaign for comment.

Zeldin is running against New York's Democratic Governor Kathy Hochul, who is seeking a full term after she succeeded Andrew Cuomo in August 2021. The former governor resigned following accusations of sexual harassment, which he denied.

Poll tracker FiveThirtyEight rates Hochul as clearly favorite to win the New York governor's race with a 97 percent chance of victory, while the same analysis finds that Zeldin has just a 3 percent chance of scoring an upset win.