New York City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams said Thursday that she still hasn’t decided whether to support or oppose Mayor Adams’ nomination of a controversial litigator. Randy Mastro to become his administration’s next top lawyer.
But in a sign that Mastro faces an uphill battle in her bid to be confirmed by the council as the city’s next corporation counsel, the speaker told reporters that she will “take a lot of input” from her Democratic colleagues, dozens of whom have has already vowed to block his nomination.
“I take the lead from my members, especially when it comes to appointments,” she said at a news conference at City Hall.
The speaker made the remarks before the council formally received the mayor’s Mastro nomination, a technical step required before his Aug. 27 confirmation hearing.
Mastro, a former federal prosecutor who served as a top official in Mayor Rudy Giuliani’s administration, has a long record of championing conservative causes in court, including representing fossil fuel interests.
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David Glove/New York Daily News Attorney Randy Mastro
Dozens of members of the Democratic Council have said Mastro’s legal credentials — as well allegations that he abused his office for political purposes while in the Giuliani administration — makes him ineligible to serve as corporate counsel. Council backlash against the Mastro pick began back in April, when it first emerged the mayor was considering nominating him, and the response has led many council members to publicly say they doubt he will be confirmed.
While keeping mum on where she stands on Mastro’s nomination, Speaker Adams, who wields considerable power over her members, confirmed that she recently met him private.
She declined to share any details about how the meeting went. “It was a meeting,” she said.
The corporate counsel oversees the legal department and represents the mayor and other city employees in a variety of legal matters.
Adams nominated Mastro after Sylvia Hinds-Radix, his first corporate counsel, resigned in June. Her exit came after sources said she clashed with top Adams administration officials on sensitive legal issues, including whether the mayor should have been entitled to city legal representation against a civil suit accusing him of sexual assault.
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