Mayor Eric Adams on Thursday named Randy Mastro, whose attempt to become New York City’s top lawyer failed last year amid widespread opposition from the City Council, as first deputy mayor.
Mr. Mastro, a former federal prosecutor who was once an aide to Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, will occupy the No. 2 position in city government and will be responsible for the day-to-day management of approximately 300,000 employees.
He and others appointed by Mr. Adams this month will replace a group of four deputy mayors who resigned in protest over the mayor’s cooperation with President Trump’s deportation agenda.
Mr. Adams nominated Mr. Mastro in July to lead the city’s law department as corporation counsel, which Mr. Mastro described as his dream job. But Mr. Mastro withdrew his name from consideration in September, after it became clear during a grinding 11-hour hearing that the City Council strongly objected to his nomination and was highly unlikely to approve it.
The Council raised moral and ethical concerns about Mr. Mastro’s previous clients, including owners of fast food restaurants fighting an increase in the minimum wage, the State of New Jersey in its lawsuit against congestion pricing and Chevron, which he defended against charges of pollution in the Ecuadorean rain forest.
Adrienne Adams, the City Council speaker who is now running for mayor, said at the time that Mr. Mastro’s client list “conflicted with the city’s long-term institutional interests.”
There were also concerns that Mr. Adams was attempting to hire Mr. Mastro, who has a reputation as an aggressive and combative lawyer, to help defend the mayor against an ongoing federal corruption investigation, as well as a civil sexual assault lawsuit. The corruption investigation later resulted in a five-count indictment against Mr. Adams, which the U.S. Justice Department has since moved to dismiss.
Many council members also faulted Mr. Mastro for his association with Mr. Giuliani, who has been disbarred in New York and Washington, D.C., for trying to discredit the results of the 2020 presidential election.
During the hearing for the corporation counsel role, Mr. Mastro defended his record, saying that it was his job to be pugnacious on behalf of his clients. He highlighted his work on behalf of those who had protested George Floyd’s murder and pro bono work he has done for homeless people.
Mr. Mastro denied involvement in some of Mr. Giuliani’s most controversial policy decisions, on issues such as policing and bilingual education, and called the former mayor’s public decline “heartbreaking.” Many current and former civic and business leaders spoke up on Mr. Mastro’s behalf to say that New York would benefit if he were to be named the city’s top lawyer.
The resignations of the four deputy mayors last month spun Mr. Adams’s administration into further turmoil. The officials, including Maria Torres-Springer, who served as first deputy mayor, said they were concerned about the mayor’s cooperation with the Trump administration after the Justice Department said his corruption case was interfering with his ability to help the White House crack down on immigrants.
The acting federal prosecutor overseeing the Southern District of New York resigned rather than dismiss the charges, accusing the mayor of seeking to enter into a quid pro quo with the Trump administration. Gov. Kathy Hochul met with top officials to determine if she should use her power to remove the mayor from office. She ultimately proposed a plan to limit his authority.
Mr. Mastro will be expected to help right the ship as Mr. Adams embarks on what could be his final months in office. He faces record-low poll numbers, several serious challengers in June’s mayoral primary and a difficult path to re-election.
Some have also speculated that the mayor will not actually run for re-election, noting that he has not held campaign events or hired key staff members. He has repeatedly said that he plans to run.
The post Adams Names Rejected Pick for Top Lawyer as First Deputy Mayor appeared first on New York Times.
