Adams Names Rejected Pick for Top Lawyer as First Deputy Mayor
The New York Times
Randy Mastro, who withdrew his nomination for corporation counsel after the City Council strongly objected, will try to help calm the turmoil in Mayor Eric Adams’s administration.
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.”
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