Freelance filmmaker, business owner, and father, Kevin Pazmino describes himself as someone who has worked hard, evolved, and taken some chances to get to where he’s at right now, in life. He acknowledges having availed of government programs which have facilitated his career progression, yet he is opposed to big government. A supporter of former President Donald Trump, he is the latest candidate to join the District 11 City Council race to fill the seat vacated on Dec. 31 by former City Councilman, Andrew Cohen, and his platform is based around community-based solutions, and community integration.

 

“The thing is, my campaign is a very, very small campaign,” he said. “It’s pretty much just me running it, and I’m not taking any cash donations because I’m just really against money in politics. I’m a little different from the other candidates, [who] I believe, are all registered Democrats. I actually am a registered conservative. Ideologically speaking, I lean more right, so I believe in fiscal responsibility.”

 

In this sense, Pazmino advocates for empowering people through lower taxes, and said he doesn’t believe “putting more people dependent on the system is the answer.” Nonetheless, referring to his own career path into the film business, he said, “I’m the sole provider for our family of six. I have four children. I came up in an industry that isn’t very easy to break into, so in the beginnings of my career, we definitely lived paycheck to paycheck.”

 

He added, “We definitely knew how to utilize social services and food stamps to get to the place where I am now, so I completely understand the need for that. I grew up in low-income housing so, I understand the need for a lot of these social programs that we have, but I also have gone through it, coming out the other side of it, and learning a trade.”

 

Pazmino said he understands what it means to be empowered, knowing your worth, and having a skillset that can be transferable. “Being a gig worker, after you get through it and establish yourself, it’s very empowering,” he said. “I think a lot of people out there do have those skillsets, who already are community leaders, but just don’t realize it yet.”

 

Indeed, he reveres those with an entrepreneurial spirit, citing one example of a local woman he knows who seemingly, recently saw an opportunity to start a childcare business out of her home. Pazmino did not elaborate on whether the woman was registered, qualified, or had been vetted to take care of children.

 

On the other hand, he is skeptical of large corporate entities and large nonprofits, saying he believes there is a lot of mismanagement that takes place within them. When asked if he could share the name of a nonprofit that is being mismanaged, he said, “I can’t point to one non for profit directly. I wouldn’t know. I don’t have access to their budgets, and access to see the scale of what they’re doing with the funds that they’re receiving, how much the funds are actually just donations.”

 

He added that some nonprofits do great work. “I would want to keep those businesses. I want to basically work with those people as well, in order to see where they need more help in terms of logistics, and help streamline those issues that they’re facing,” he said.

 

The Norwood News mentioned that 501 nonprofits have to file regular reports to the authorities to demonstrate how they use and spend their funding, and asked if this provides some level of comfort regarding the mismanagement concerns. Pazmino concurred but suggested there were also alternative ways and means to report on finances.

 

“I want people to be able to utilize a lot of the same things that the 1 percent utilizes,” he said, explaining that while many large corporates donate to philanthropic causes, they do so as a way to write it off against their taxes. Pazmino favors a similar model for smaller businesses, saying communities know their districts’ needs best.

 

Taking the example of food insecurity, he said he believes only a small percentage of “tax subsidies” [received by nonprofits] actually go toward feeding the hungry, and suggested that the larger percentage goes towards the management’s salaries.

 

Referring to such tax subsidies, he favored instead allocating, for example, $100,000 among ten community restaurants and delis so they could lower their prices for the people in the community. Pazmino added that such businesses could then also provide food for the homeless in the area. “They know who our homeless community are. I’d rather give them those subsidies and then just work out free meals for the homeless and for lower income families,” he said.

 

The Norwood News mentioned that the primary aim of every business is, nonetheless, to make a profit, and to rely on businesses to ensure the homeless are fed  may not be a very pro-active approach to the issue and may be more reliant on luck, chance and goodwill.

 

“That’s just kind of a broad perspective,” Pazmino said of his proposals. “Obviously, once elected, I would have to really scrutinize what monies are in the budget, and then figure out the proper way of distribution, figure out how we’re currently dealing with these issues, and the ones that are working.”

 

He also advocates for pooling existing resources like educational facilities and other spaces to address the wealth imbalance across District 11, cutting out what he sees as traditional, bottom-down, government intervention and bureaucracy. “I don’t really believe in this one system for the general population living on a welfare system, and then one system for the 1 percent to live a completely different lifestyle,” he said.

 

“I’m basically trying to empower people to go towards incorporating themselves, becoming their own business, becoming entrepreneurs, so that opens them up to the subsidies as well.” Having started his own business two years ago, Pazmino wants to help others realize their potential. “We can understand getting too caught up in the grind of life to be able to have time to put towards community activism, because I haven’t had that time either,” he said.

 

“So, I would love to try to encourage people to do it, and whether it’s incentivizing, and doing tax mitigation, or a straight-up payment for time volunteered, the key is getting people involved, and me knowing what each constituent in every area needs.

 

If elected, Pazmino sees his role as a community liaison, expanding on the role of the community boards, and connecting people with resources in a type of self-sufficient neighborhood model. He uses the example of business owners making their premises available during closed hours to community groups to give classes, for example, so that the community, as a whole, benefits. He said he also wants to make sure that all the seats are filled at community board level, and that every block is represented.

 

On the subject of law enforcement and crime, Pazmino is opposed to defunding the police. “I believe that we need to make sure that our police, fire and EMFs are all funded properly, and support those agencies, because in cases of emergency, those are your first responders,” he said.

 

It has been reported that Pazmino has historically retweeted posts by conspiracy theorist and Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, who was recently stripped of her congressional committee duties, and that he, himself, has had his Twitter account suspended.

 

A review of Pazmino’s Facebook account reveals, among other posts, one from September 2016 which links to a now-deactivated YouTube link with the title, “Wikileaks’ Julian Assange – TPP Not Only Trade, 83% is Facists Trying to Controlling Our Daily Lives.”

 

Another from Aug. 30, 2016, links to an article about singer, Beyoncé, published on The Vigilant Citizen, a site which peddles conspiracy theories, and how her performance at the 2016 VMAs was an “twisted occult ritual.” A description of the site itself reads, “To understand the world we live in, we must understand the symbols surrounding us. To understand these symbols, we must dig up their origin, which is often deeply hidden in occult mysteries. In short, this site aims to go beyond the face value of symbols found in pop culture to reveal their esoteric meaning.”

 

Pazmino does not add any commentary to the posts as to whether he supports the content or not. We reached out to him to ask if he believes the 2020 presidential election was stolen, if he believes in conspiracy theories, if his Twitter account was suspended and if so, what the reason was. Pazmino replied, saying he follows a wide array of people of all walks of life and opinions. “Some of them even identify as extraterrestrials. I have found many great ideas that I have used as plot lines in some of the scripts I have written.”

 

He added, “Since social media is about supporting the people you are friends with on Facebook or follow on Twitter. I tend to like and retweet as I scroll. Sometimes, I will retweet without even reading the tweet just to help people gain a following or visibility.”

 

We asked if he does not feel he has a civic and social obligation not to retweet content that is not checked in order to prevent the spread of misinformation. He said, “No I believe it is up to each individual to do their own research on what they read, and use their own discernment on what they feel is the truth.”

 

He added, “At one point in history people believed that Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated by a lone gun man. Anyone who thought otherwise was considered a conspiracy theorist. Today, we know that his death was not caused by some[one] who acted alone.”

 

He said he does believe that there was evidence of election fraud. “All throughout November and December, many of the swing states own legislative bodies held hours of hearings, where they heard the testimonies of many individuals who have signed affidavits to what they witnessed.” None of the courts which investigated the issue found any credible evidence of election fraud.

 

Pazmino went on to say that he believes nonetheless that America is a country of laws, and that he is not a fair weather patriot. “I considered Obama my president even though I voted for Cynthia McKinney in 2008 and Ron Paul in 2012,” he said.

 

He said his Twitter account was suspended because of retweets dealing with the Reddit/game stop saga which dealt with retail investors versus hedge funds. “As I mentioned, I retweet and like as I scroll. The Twitter app sees the rate of my retweets as spamming and suspends people for this reason. At times, the app will check to see if I am a real person because of the rate that I retweet. I disagree with Twitter’s policies of censorship.”

 

He added that he no longer uses the app and did not try to fight the judgement when he was suspended. “I am a strong proponent of the first amendment,” he said.

 

When asked about the topic of police brutality and the mass demonstrations seen throughout the world last year, he said, “Obviously, I’m against some of those bad apples, but I don’t believe that we should punish the whole institution as a whole because of a few bad apples.”

 

In the context of the most recent CCRB hearing (Civilian Complaints Review Board public hearing) on the NYPD’s new disciplinary matrix, and the topic of accountability at the top levels of the NYPD, we asked Pazmino if he could see why there is justifiable criticism of the agency’s leadership for not taking the disciplining of such “bad apples” seriously enough in the past.

 

“I’m a manager myself in terms of what my vocation is, and anytime something happens on my watch, I take full responsibility, even if it’s not something that I directly did,” he said. “I feel the current mayor, it starts with him and the people that he elected, who he decides to be the commissioner. I’m against jumping to conclusions, and every situation is a particular situation, so if an investigation finds wrongdoing, then there needs to be firm and strict punishment.”

 

He added, “But, in terms of just automatically demonizing the police department before investigating, that’s where I just feel like you need to support the police department.” Pazmino brought up talks of future legislation which may curtail the power of the commissioner, and put the City Council in charge of disciplining officers.

 

“I get a little nervous about that,” he said, adding that there needs to be control within the police department as a whole, or no one will listen. “If the officers as a whole feel that their boss really isn’t their boss, it’s just a figurehead, you lose control, and the ability to actually plan a proper department,” he said.

 

Pazmino said having talked to retired police officers in confidence, he feels a lot of times cops may just stay in their cars, going forward, especially at a certain time of the night, and ignore situations they would previously have addressed, because now, they don’t want to put themselves in a scenario where their lives are at risk if something goes wrong, or something unexpected happens.

 

“It’s a very difficult job,” he said. “They’re more worried about what could happen to them if the situation goes awry.” He added, “You have to react to the best of your ability but if someone pulls a gun, at that point, you have to defend yourself.” Acknowledging that police work is dangerous, we ask if that is not what police officers signed up for.

 

He said the officers he talked to would be the first to agree. “But it’s when you don’t feel supported by the mayor, or forget the mayor, if you don’t feel supported by your own superiors, or if you feel like your superiors aren’t the ones who are going to be doing the disciplinary action, then that even allows them to kind of detach from whatever [the] superior tells [them] to do,” he said.

 

He said he fears if all disciplinary action falls to the City Council, it will lead to a situation where the superiors won’t be able to run a proper department, and drive a rift between police management, and the officers in the field. “I feel like it’s going to cause more disorganization,” he said.

 

If elected, Pazmino said he’s also looking to take a hands-on approach to the role of council member. “I’m looking to be in people’s neighborhoods. I’m not going to be the type of councilman who is only out there during election season.” he said, adding that it seemed to him that the country was heading in a particular direction. “There are people, like myself, who don’t believe in full blown socialism, and I know that the left will disagree with me in terms of saying, ‘We’re not really trying to do that,’ but it’s slow and steady.”