Randy Mastro testifies in front of City Council
On Tuesday, Randy Mastro testified in front of the City Council as part of his confirmation hearing to be the city’s next top lawyer. Council members pressed Mastro on a variety of topics before a vote to confirm him in the coming weeks. FOX 5 NY’s Morgan McKay breaks down the details.
NEW YORK – The chances of Randy Mastro being confirmed as the city’s next corporation counsel are slim to none, according to numerous sources who attended a closed door Democratic council conference Wednesday afternoon.
“He doesn’t have support,” one council member said as they left the meeting, but wanted to stay anonymous. “He didn’t win any hearts or minds yesterday.”
The public hearing held Tuesday on Mastro’s nomination went for more than 11 hours as council members pressed him on his controversial record.
But it was the testimony that came at the end of the day from Bridget Anne Kelly, a former aide to Governor Chris Christie and who was convicted for her role in the Bridgegate scandal, that council members called “damming” and “impactful”.
Kelly testified that Mastro was “sexist” towards her, says he “slut-shamed” and used her as a “scapegoat.”
“Randy Mastro is a conniving and ruthless politician and operative who happens to be an attorney,” Kelly testified with tears in her eyes.
But on top of Kelly’s testimony – council members pointed to Mastro’s years serving under the Giuliani administration, representing Christie in the bridgegate scandal, as well as the oil giant Chevron in a case centered on pollution in Ecuador and most recently for representing the state of New Jersey in its lawsuit against New York’s congestion pricing plan.
“There has to be a lawyer out there with a less offensive resume,” another council member said.
If he were to be confirmed, Mastro would technically represent both the mayor and city council in any legal issues, as well as lead the city’s law department which consists of about 800 lawyers.
But many council members doubt he would represent them and said he would just be the “mayor’s lawyer.”
“It would be like handing him a bazooka that he would then turn on us,” one council member said as they left the meeting, but who also wanted to stay anonymous.
In his testimony, Mastro insisted he would strive to keep a balance and work with both sides when an argument arises.
“I will be an independent force for good, representing this council in ways that no corporation counsel ever has before,” Mastro testified.
But council sources told Fox 5 exclusively that they didn’t trust it and feel Mastro “didn’t address these concerns in a real way.”
On top of that, some council members feel this whole process flew in the face of their “advise and consent” power.
In 2019, city voters approved this referendum – advise and consent, which gives council members the power to confirm or deny the appointment of the city’s corporation counsel and the Commissioner of the Department of Investigations.
Council sources emphasized the advice part of this referendum and said that they told the mayor this spring, before Mastro was officially nominated, that they were severely opposed to having Mastro serve in this position and there wasn’t going to be enough support to confirm him.
Sources said they approached the mayor with their concerns because they “wanted to avoid this spectacle” and “prevent what happened yesterday”.
“But the administration charged forward,” one council member said.
Another council source saying that they are also “frustrated by wasted time and energy on this” and had wanted to work collaboratively with the mayor on who to pick for this role.
Mayor Eric Adams was at a separate event on Wednesday and as he was leaving we asked what he thought of Mastro’s hearing.
“All part of the process,” Adams said as he left.
We reached out to the mayor’s communication team who pointed us to an interview Adams did with PIX 11 Wednesday night – they asked Adams if he still stands with Mastro after listening to the hearing.
“110 percent,” Adams said. “I’ve looked at his record, I’ve looked through what he has done, everything from suing [those against] Black Lives Matter, suing Donald Trump, what he has represented, and looked at the list of people who supported him, former corporation counsels and other affluent and important people, part of the legal community.”
He continued, “Listen, attorneys take tough cases. And if we demonize attorneys for the cases they take, that’s a slippery slope. Because then we’re saying those who commit crimes or those who are accused of crimes don’t have a right to due process. That’s not the country I live in.”
Public comment period on Mastro’s nomination is open until Friday morning if anyone else in the public wants to submit their comments.
City council members must vote on Mastro’s nomination before September 15. In order to be confirmed to the post, at least two thirds of the city council will need to vote for him.
