Randy Mastro, Mayor Adams’ controversial corporation counsel nominee, argued in his long-awaited confirmation hearing Tuesday that he’s a good fit for the prestigious job because he put his “life on the line” when he previously served in city government — but his pitch wasn’t well received by City Council members.
Throughout the marathon Council Rules Committee hearing, members singled out Mastro for blistering criticism over his role as a top official in ex-Mayor Rudy Giuliani’s administration. They also tore into his record of championing conservative causes in court, including representing fossil fuel interests, landlords and major corporations, and notably no one on the dais had spoken favorably about his nomination as the hearing approached its ninth hour at 6 p.m.
Bronx-Manhattan Councilwoman Diana Ayala, a Democrat who holds significant sway in the chamber as its deputy speaker, even questioned Mastro’s “moral character” while blasting his legal representation of a group of Upper West Side residents who tried to evict homeless men from a hotel during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I’m very disturbed by that,” she told Mastro.
Mastro, an ex-federal prosecutor who can’t land the corporation counsel job unless at least half of the Council’s 51 members support him in a vote expected next month, grew combative at times.
On several occasions he pleaded “please let me answer,” as members railed against his work for Giuliani, which included advising the Republican’s 1997 reelection campaign and serving as his deputy mayor for operations.
“We seem to be stuck in the 1990s,” Mastro said after Council Majority Whip Selvena Brooks-Powers questioned why New Yorkers should trust him to serve as the city government’s top attorney when he defended and served in the “racist” Giuliani administration.
Later, Council Majority Leader Amanda Farias said Mastro was “complicit” in the Giuliani administration’s “racism” and that he must be judged on that record.
“Please look at the totality of my record,” protested Mastro.
In his testimony, Mastro described himself as a “life-long Democrat” and said his long law career, which includes pro bono work for anti-police brutality protesters, would make him a good corporation counsel. He even called corporation counsel “the only job in city government I’ve ever aspired to do.”
The post comes with overseeing the Law Department and representing the mayor and other city employees, including Council members, in various legal matters, and Mastro told members he’s “uniquely well qualified” to help them craft legislation to make sure it’s legally bullet-proof. He also said that as corporate counsel he would use the Law Department to pursue affirmative legal action to advance policy agendas, including the Council’s, as opposed to just defending city employees against lawsuits.
“I put my life on the line for this city, and I will do it again,” he said, noting he faced death threats from the mafia while spearheading a Giuliani initiative to break up mob activities at Manhattan’s Fulton Fish Market.
He conceded there were issues with his tenure in Giuliani’s administration, though. “I wish we would’ve developed better relationships with communities of color,” he said.
Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, who as the chamber’s top Democrat arguably holds the most influence over Mastro’s fate, told Mastro in her opening remarks that “I still don’t think that my question was really specifically addressed,” after asking him to explain why New Yorkers should trust he would as corp counsel have the city government’s best interests at heart — not the mayor’s — given how “loyal” he showed himself to be to Giuliani.
In the middle of the hearing, the speaker’s office also disseminated written statements from four unnamed Law Department attorneys, including a 15-year veteran, voicing opposition to his nomination due to concerns about his politics and history of suing the city government over various issues.
It first emerged in April that the mayor was considering naming Mastro corporation counsel.
But it took until July 30 for Adams to officially nominate Mastro — after months of the mayor’s team privately pushing for him, including setting up meetings between him and Council members. Sources in the Council say that behind-the-scenes lobbying continued through the immediate lead-up to Tuesday’s high-stakes hearing, with Mastro being spotted at City Hall multiple times last week.
Dozens of Democratic Council members, who have clashed intensely with the mayor over a variety of policy matters in recent months, pledged before Mastro’s nomination even became official they would work to block it.
A Council member who participated in Tuesday’s hearing and was extensively involved in preparing for it told the Daily News after the grilling that the chamber’s 45 Democratic members remain almost uniformly opposed to Mastro’s nomination. The member, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the hearing only added to concerns about Mastro.
“They were told six ways to Sunday Mastro doesn’t have the votes but they plowed forward anyway,” said the member, who wasn’t authorized by the speaker’s office to discuss conversations with the mayor’s office.
In a briefing that took place as Mastro’s confirmation got underway, the mayor said, “I think that we’d all be proud to have him represent the city of New York,” he said. “That determination goes out of the Council.”
Mastro’s nomination comes after the tumultuous departure of Sylvia Hinds-Radix, Adams’ first corporation counsel.
Hinds-Radix, the first Black woman to ever serve as corporation counsel, announced she was resigning in April. Sources familiar with the matter said her departure came after she clashed with Adams administration officials about a raft of sensitive legal issues including her concern about whether it was appropriate for the Law Department to provide the mayor and Tim Pearson, his top public safety adviser, with city legal representation against civil lawsuits accusing them of sexual misconduct.
Mastro said he couldn’t comment on whether it was appropriate to Pearson and the mayor to get lawyers in those cases. But he pushed back against critics who’ve claimed he’d only be a henchman for the mayor as corporation counsel.
“They obviously don’t know me,” he said. “I am my own man.”
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