Union backing pot enforcers is high on ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s bid for NYC mayor

The union repping the city’s deputy sheriffs who’ve padlocked hundreds of illegal pot shops is high on Andrew Cuomo, backing the ex-governor’s comeback bid for mayor.

“The flood of illegal cannabis stores across all five boroughs would have never been tolerated if Andrew Cuomo was in charge,” Ingrid Simonovic, president of the New York City Deputy Sheriffs’ Benevolent Association, said Tuesday.

Cuomo approved legislation legalizing the sale of marijuana for recreational use in New York as governor in March 2021.

He resigned from the state’s top job about five months later over a slew of sexual misconduct accusations, which he denies.

The infrastructure for the state’s new cannabis regulatory agency and rollout of the budding industry got off to a dismal start, allowing scores of illegal pot shops to flood neighborhoods before licensed dispensaries could get off the ground.

The problems led to a massive crackdown on the illicit shops, dubbed Operation Padlock to Protect, by Mayor Eric Adams that seized tons of illegal cannabis products.

Simonovic also griped that the deputy sheriffs’ union contract with the city expired three years ago and that it hasn’t been able to negotiate a new one with the Adams administration, resulting in “both low staffing levels and low morale.”

“Our city is in crisis and every day our deputy sheriffs work day in and day out on the frontlines in the battle to improve our overall quality-of-life,” Cuomo said in a statement.

“We owe these brave men and women a debt of gratitude for all that they do to serve our city, and I look forward to working hand-in-hand with them as key allies in our effort to enforce all of New York’s civil laws, which will begin the minute I am sworn in as mayor.”

The NYC Sheriff’s Office executes court orders as well as enforces the law against illicit cigarettes and cannabis products.

But the office’s enforcement of the cannabis law has not been without controversy.

In September, the city Department of Investigations launched a probe into the sheriff’s office’s handling of cash seizures from illegal pot shops.

The sheriff’s office also has been accused of shuttering shops that did not even sell marijuana.

Cuomo faces off in the June 24 Democratic primary against incumbent Adams, City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, city Comptroller Brad Lander, former city Comptroller Scott Stringer, socialist state Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani, state Sens. Jessica Ramos and Zellnor Myrie and financier Whitney Tilson, among others.