Adams’s Pick for Top Lawyer Withdraws His Nomination
The New York Times
Randy Mastro, a former federal prosecutor and aide to Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, said he had been denied a fair hearing by the City Council.
Mayor Eric Adams’s choice to become the city’s top lawyer asked on Tuesday for his nomination to be withdrawn after the City Council questioned his fitness for the office during a bruising 11-hour hearing last month.
Randy Mastro, a former federal prosecutor and aide to Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, had little chance of Council approval for what he described as his dream job. But Mr. Adams pushed on with the nomination, mounting a monthslong campaign to gain support.
“New Yorkers have a right to expect more from their elected officials,” Mr. Mastro wrote in a letter to Mr. Adams. He added that he was being denied an opportunity to serve the role, the corporation counsel, “based on a hearing that was anything but fair.”
The Council, which was to vote on his nomination on Thursday, questioned whether Mr. Adams chose Mr. Mastro because of his reputation as an aggressive attorney, as the mayor faced a federal investigation into his campaign fund-raising and a civil sexual assault lawsuit.
Last week, federal authorities took the phones of several members of Mr. Adams’s inner circle, including the police commissioner, first deputy mayor, schools chancellor, deputy mayor for public safety and a senior adviser to the mayor.
During the hearing last month, many Democratic members questioned Mr. Mastro’s morals and ethics based on some of the clients he has represented, including fast food restaurant owners opposed to increasing the minimum wage and Chevron, which he defended over pollution in the Ecuadorean rain forest.
