Q&A: GOP Attorney General Candidate Michael Henry

By Reuvain Borchardt

Republican Michael Henry, 42, is running for New York State attorney general, challenging incumbent Democrat Letitia “Tish” James, in his first-ever political race. Henry, a commercial litigation attorney from Queens, faces long odds in a heavy-blue state.

A recent poll by Slingshot Strategies says 48% of likely voters have never heard of Henry. And through early October, according to Gotham Gazette, James has raised around $10 million and spent $7 million, far more than the $400,000 Henry has raised and $257,000 he’s spent.

But a Trafalgar poll last month, to the disbelief of many, showed Henry with a one-point lead over the incumbent. A Siena poll in mid-October last month that showed Henry trailing by 11 points, was still a five-point improvement for him from the same poll three weeks earlier, and far better than a Republican was expected to do.

Henry is seeking to ride a red wave — fueled by angst over high crime, inflation and gas prices, and a stumbling economy — that might also give New York a Republican governor, in a state that has not seen a Republican win statewide office since 2002.

Hamodia spoke with Henry on Sunday night, after he’d spent the day campaigning with Republican gubernatorial candidate Lee Zeldin in Brooklyn’s Orthodox Jewish neighborhoods of Midwood, Boro Park and Williamsburg. The conversation has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

The James campaign declined Hamodia’s interview request. James has also declined to participate in a debate with Henry.

You spent today campaigning in the Orthodox Jewish neighborhoods of Borough Park, Midwood and Williamsburg. Tell us what issues of concern you heard from the Orthodox community, and what they’re looking for in an attorney general.

Crime, yeshiva education and the business climate, especially real estate.

We need to treat hate crimes like hate crimes. [There was a] 41% rise in the last year in New York City in hate crimes. Nearly half of that is against Jewish New Yorkers. We’ve seen, unfortunately, a rise in antisemitism, which a large portion of the Democratic Party has accepted. We’ve seen that a lot of politicians will talk about “Stop Jewish Hate,” “Stop Asian Hate,” etc. We need to prosecute these matters as hate crimes, even if it’s just an assault, a robbery. Young boys should not have to fear walking down the street because they wear a yarmulke. And we’ve even seen it as late as late last week, a guy riding on a bicycle punches a Jewish teenager. I think what we have to do is prosecute these as hate crimes so people know there’s a level of consequence and accountability that will take place if you attack someone based on their religion.

As far as the real estate, people that are having issues with zoning, with certain properties, there’s a lot of chaos in the AG’s office, there’s a lack of responsiveness, lack of coordination, people need to get permits, stamps, things done. And it takes a very long time, which fiscally damages the individuals. There’s also an issue with cost of living as far as housing for people, young couples to be able to marry, it’s forcing people out of the city. And also the small-business owners, the overregulation.

Some of those are issues that the AG could address; some of those aren’t.

Where I can help address matters is making the Attorney General’s Office, for example the Real Estate Bureau, much more efficient, and much more responsive to the needs of the individuals. There’s a serious lack of responsiveness and a lack of efficiency that is really damaging people financially.

And also, there’s the issue with evictions, where people can’t get rid of bad tenants. I can’t force a Housing Court judge to do anything, but what I can do is advocate for New York to not adopt the Good Cause Eviction Bill, which my opponent Letitia James is supporting. It’ll make it nearly impossible for a landlord to evict someone.

And in Williamsburg specifically, the issue of not being able to evict tenants came up to me. And they said, in many instances, these people have money, they can pay it, they’re just not because they know there’s no consequence.

I’ve heard of complaints by religious corporations that are required by law to get attorney general approval before they take out a mortgage or sell property, that it can take months and sometimes years to get approval. I’m not sure if this is what you were referring to about problems with real estate.

Yes. The office in general, it’s not just downstate, it’s an issue throughout the state. It’s very slow, it’s very non-responsive, it lacks coordination. And a lot of people there apparently aren’t held accountable for the inability to move things in an efficient manner. And I think a lot of that is because of the philosophy of the current attorney general. I think she views herself as a social-justice warrior, and I think she looks down on big business. And I also think that she uses her office to leverage against people. And for me, I want to run it as a professional office where people won’t have to wait months, even years to have to get an approval from my office.

You don’t have great name recognition. Tell us a little about yourself.

My name is Michael Henry. I was in the mortgage industry, I was in management, where I was managing a pretty large sales team along with multiple branches with a partner. After the crash and the mortgage industry changed a lot because of the subprime fallout, I eventually transitioned into going to law school at night.

I took my business background, and found a niche in the law doing commercial litigation. I recovered millions and millions and millions of dollars for my clients. I do asset recovery, judgment search, judgment enforcement, creditor bankruptcy.

I also had an area of law that’s almost like a hobby, doing asylum work for people from China who’ve been persecuted for being Christian or Catholic.

I live in Astoria, Queens. I am the first in my family to go to college. My father’s a retired police officer from Mount Vernon in Westchester County. Basically, [what made me want to run] was the one-party rule in the state, watching what was going on, along with seeing this office [of attorney general] always being used for one of two reasons: the first one is to become the next governor, and the second one is to weaponize it against political opponents. And I think as an independent-minded outsider who could come in, professionalize the office, streamline the office, and focus on what can be done in that office and not what’s next on the political ladder, I just felt that I could come in, represent the people and fix a lot of the issues that I’ve seen, glaring, based on experience I’ve had when I was in the mortgage industry, with the Financial Services Department, or just seeing how the government handles itself in court.

I see a pathway [to victory] through the outer boroughs of New York City, where I think we can get 33.5% to 35%, through communities like the Orthodox community, the Russian and Ukrainian community, the Albanian community, Asian-Americans, Latinos, certain pockets throughout the city to get those votes. I thought it was a different pathway than anyone else has been trying to use in the past.

Luckily, Lee Zeldin believed in a similar pathway, which has helped us run pretty close to each other in a lot of polls that we’ve had both internally and publicly. And I think that, for me, it was just being able to go in, clean everything up, do the work of the people.

And if I go back into private practice in four to eight years, I go back into private practice in four to eight years. This office is not a steppingstone for me. A lot of people run to be attorney general because they really want to be the governor. I really believe that this office can do a lot of good work for the people of the state if you focus on the needs of the office and not politicizing it.

So you’re saying right now that if you win, whether it’s one term or two terms, you’re going back into private practice afterward and you’re not going to run for any political office after this?

Never say never. But what I’m saying is when I came into this race, it was just because I wanted to be the attorney general. My focus is being the attorney general.

And, honestly, two years ago, if you said, “Hey, Michael, you want to run for attorney general of the state of New York?” I probably would have laughed at you. It was something that was never on my radar. And things just happen in your life sometimes and things fall into place. I knew I was an underdog and I was always going to be an underdog. But there are a couple of public polls from an A-rated pollster who has been the most accurate pollster the last three election cycles, has me with a slight lead.

You’re talking about Trafalgar?

Correct.

And there are internal polls from multiple sources that verify this is a very tight race. Tish James said something today that was recorded, she was telling her people this is a tighter race than anybody thought. Both sides know this is a tight race. And when I came into this, my goal was to be the attorney general, not to be the next governor. Nothing has changed along the way.

Never say never. Maybe down the road another position might come up, but it’s just not something that’s been on my radar. My focus is just being the attorney general. I know what I want to do with this office. I know what I want to see this office look like, and I know what it could do for the people if you run it right.

One of Tish James’ biggest targets has been Donald Trump. If you took office in January, what would happen to the legal actions she’s been taking against Trump? Would they immediately go away?

No. I’m going to handle the former president’s cases like I’d handle anyone else’s cases.

First off, to differentiate myself from my opponent, I would not run for office saying that I’m going to find crimes to pin on someone and then inferring their guilt before I was sworn into office.

What I am going to do when I come into office, I’m going to review each case, lawsuit, investigation. I’m going to review everything with an independent, clear mind. I’m going to assess the evidence that the office has, because I’m sure there’s evidence that I am not privy to. All I’ve really seen is the lawsuit and exhibits. And I will follow the letter of the law and make a determination of what’s in the best interest of the taxpayer, the state of New York moving forward. And I promise everybody that I will make the right decision. But, like I said, I’m not going to make a prejudicial or inappropriate statement prior to being sworn into office.

The Orthodox Jewish community is politically conservative, but it has in the past endorsed incumbent Democrats who have been friendly while in office. Tish James has been vocal about condemning antisemitic attacks and fighting zoning laws viewed as antisemitic. Why should Orthodox voters who consider her a friendly incumbent vote for you?

Her office has not been prosecuting hate crimes. She gives lip service to it, they hashtag about it.

As far as the zoning issues: I’m not going to say she hasn’t done some good work on the zoning issues.

But I also think it’s very important to people in the Orthodox community to be able to teach their children the values they want to teach them, and educate them the way they want to educate them. And I believe that people have the right as parents to make those decisions, and I would not allow people to push them. If someone’s breaking the law, that’s one thing. But I think that this community has a long history of what they want to teach their children, how they want to teach their children, and a built-in value system.

And I believe that I’m the candidate that’s best in line with the community. I believe I’m the candidate that would fight the most for victims of crime in the community. I’d be the candidate most aggressive in taking on hate crimes in the community. And I would be willing to address all the zoning issues.

I have a lot of Orthodox friends. I’m not Jewish. I was a very reliable Shabbos goy when I was younger. I’ve always been very close; some of my best friends are Orthodox. And I’m always going to be a fighter and an advocate for that community, because they’ve always embraced me. And they’ve never treated me like an outsider. I even went to a Jewish law school [Touro].

It’s a community that I have a longstanding appreciation for the values, the family values, the cultural values, and how they embrace people, once they have that level of trust with them.

I’m not running to get a vote from the community. I want to run to be a friend to the community, and for the community to trust me and know that if I come back in four years for reelection, it’s not going to be the first time they see me. They’re going to see me all the time. I’m not going to just come back in four years and ask for a vote. They’re going to know me and they’re going to feel like they have an ally and somebody who’s going to defend their children the same way I would defend my niece and nephew.

You spoke in favor of yeshivas. It seems that you oppose the substantial-equivalency regulations. What specifically do you plan on doing as attorney general to oppose the regulations?

I believe it’s a civil-rights issue. Number one, I could decline legal involvement in certain matters that I think are inappropriate. And there’s a Civil Rights Division. If parents want to raise their children the way they want to raise them, or educate them the way they want to educate them, and they’re doing it within the letter of the law, then I can use that division to fight for the families. That’s just really how I feel it.

Yeshiva groups recently sued to overturn these substantial-equivalency regulations. Would you decline to defend it in court?

I would assess it, and I would be open to declining it.

What I would say is I know Lee Zeldin is going to be a strong advocate for yeshiva education. So this is something that we’ve both been talking about. And yes, I would be open to declining to fight the lawsuit.

This is a community that’s produced a lot of very, very successful people. They’re clearly doing something right in educating their children, and the Regents tests and whatnot, to hold them to that standard. I feel like the community does have a legitimate argument that what they’ve produced out of the community has shown that their educational system is working for them.

So I would be open to declining it.

And I know with Lee Zeldin, he said he wants to be a strong advocate of yeshiva education. So I would be in lockstep with what he’s looking to do as far as the yeshiva education in the state of New York.

Do you have any final comments?

I appreciate your time. And I appreciate the community. And I know that they’ve had to deal with a lot, with crime, with a lot of regulations, cost of living and other issues. I’m aware of these issues, and I look forward to representing the community and being a friend to the community moving forward.

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rborchardt@hamodia.com