It’s her ‘steal’ of approval.
A Brooklyn socialist lawmaker declared this week that shoplifters have a right to swipe items like soap and toothpaste from local stores without getting busted — because of their “biological need” for the products.
State Assemblywoman Emily Gallagher strongly suggested shoplifting should be legalized while joined at a news conference outside Manhattan Criminal Court on Thursday by other lefty pols and criminal justice advocates with Court Watch NYC. The group claimed it monitored 360 arraignments over four days and found more than half were for misdemeanor offenses.
“Most of what we saw were crimes of poverty-people who are stealing things like toothpaste, people who were stealing things like, you know, soap. And that means if you’re stealing those things, you need them,” said Gallagher, who reps Greenpoint and other sections of woke northern Brooklyn.
“And we are choosing to protect billion-dollar companies, like CVS and Walgreens, over the people who are struggling to get by. So I would say that the true crime is that there is such incredible wealth disparity in this city that there are people who can be thrown in jail simply for having a biological need.”
The card-carrying member of the Democratic Socialists of America said she would continue to push for “treatment-not-jail” punishments – all but ignoring that first-time shoplifting offenders rarely get jailtime and that lack of enforcement pushed by lefty pols like herself statewide has forced many drugstores to lock products in plastic cases.
She and other pols at the event also called on fellow socialist Mayor Zohran Mamdani to follow through on his campaign promise to end “broken windows policing” tactics by NYPD cops that target quality-of-life crimes like graffiti and fare evasion.
Shoppers on Saturday at Food Universal supermarket in The Bronx’s Co-op City told The Post they were aghast over Gallagher’s remarks, which give license to stealing and drive up costs for law-abiding customers
“It’s foolish to think one should not be punished for stealing. It is a crime,” said Rev. Susan Webb, 68.
“Mamdani can implement that in his [city-run grocery] stores, so if you don’t have the necessities, you can go there and get them for free.”
Sanctioning retail theft will also drive up crime stats, which as of Aug. 9 show retail theft down 14.7% and petit larceny is down 5.4%, compared to last year at this time, according to the NYPD.
Jeanette Mack, a 49-year-old academic adviser, agreed, saying Gallagher and other far-left pol’s soft-on-crime policies are “ridiculous” because “they are enabling [shoplifters] instead of helping them.”
“People are going to feel entitled because they know they can walk in and walk out and nothing will happen,” she said.
“Allowing people to shoplift with no consequence is wrong. I’m a single mom and at one time I had four jobs. I would never think of stealing anything.
“They already closed a Rite Aid [drug store] around here. Now I’m worried that if they put that in place, they are definitely going to close this supermarket, and I would suffer because I’d have to drive to somewhere else instead of walking. And gas price nowadays, that’s another thing.”
Edwin Pichado, 33, a manager for the supermarket, said Gallagher is living in a fantasy world.
“Rent is high.” he said. “You have to pay workers, utilities. Goods going out, but no money coming in. We cannot run a business like that. If they see that you do nothing, they’ll keep coming back. They tell their friends, and it becomes a free for all.”
Gallagher has a long history of bizarre actions and remarks since being sworn into the state in Assembly in January 2021, including using a GoFundMe campaign in October 2021 to raise money for her cat Roland’s emergency surgery bill.
She’s also racked up dozens of traffic and parking tickets despite pushing an anti-car agenda in Albany. And she has allegedly blocked constituents from posting comments she doesn’t like on her social media pages.
In 2024 Gallagher attended an anti-Israel phone bank sponsored by the New Jersey chapter of American Muslims for Palestine, whose leaders have espoused vile antisemitic rhetoric and are under investigation by Virginia’s attorney general for potentially funding terrorists.
Her bizarre behavior started long before she was elected to office.
In 2003, while she was still a student at Ithaca College, she boasted about her immature antics — including mooning a couple she spied having sex, not to mention throwing a “homeless party” — in an online journal that came to light during her 2020 campaign where she defeated longtime Democratic incumbent Joe Lentol.
Critics scorched Gallagher’s latest remarks.
“People like Emily Gallagher try to obfuscate reality because they want to enable this very activity,” Councilwoman Vickie Paladino (R-Queens) wrote on X.
“They know it’s devastating to retail stores and that’s the point — they’re communists and want to use crime to force these stores to close. It’s social justice.”
“Soon enough we’ll be hearing about the need for government-run drug stores to replace the shops they drove out of business,” she added.”
Former Queens Councilman Robert Holden was even more blunt.
“[Gallagher] is a major dope,” wrote the moderate Democrat.
Gallagher did not return a request for comment by The Post.
Councilwoman Joann Ariola (R-Queens) told The Post that Gotham businesses are already struggling to keep their lights on — and politicians “now advocating for thievery is going to push even more of them to close shop.”
“This is the kind of backwards, left-wing lunacy I would expect from someone who values the rights of criminals more than those of business owners,” she said. “Policies that Gallagher is pushing are exactly what’s driving so many of them away.”
