Mastro (finally) faces the NYC Council

NEW YORK — In what will likely prove a contentious appearance, attorney Randy Mastro is set to testify Tuesday before a skeptical City Council with the hope of securing the top job at the city’s Law Department .

Nominated by Mayor Eric Adams, Mastro’s tortuous confirmation process has featured months of backroom lobbying and public pushback from lawmakers — and has become a proxy battle for the growing breach between the two branches of city government.

For the mayor, the stakes are high.

After sinking mountains of political capital into Mastro’s nomination for corporation counsel despite clear evidence of serious opposition within the body, a rejection by lawmakers — who hold veto power over the pick — would deal a momentous blow to Adams’ instincts and dealmaking credibility.

In addition to giving his first public address to Council members, Mastro is likely to face a barrage of questions from lawmakers at Tuesday’s hearing of the Committee on Rules, Privileges and Elections.

Speaker Adrienne Adams has been publicly cold to Mastro’s nomination and privately shared her displeasure with Mastro to the mayor months ago. At the hearing, she is expected to focus on the corporation counsel’s duty to represent all branches of government — not just the interests of City Hall — and insist that being a qualified attorney is not the sole qualification for the office, her press office told POLITICO.

“The nominee for this prestigious position must have the confidence of all city officials, demonstrate independence and a commitment to justice, and serve the best interest of the public,” Council spokesperson Rendy Desamours said in a statement.

In addition to Mastro’s turn before lawmakers, the Council is allowing public testimony, some of which is expected to feature speakers unhappy with the mayor’s pick. To wit, Charles King, CEO of homeless advocacy group Housing Works, plans to testify about Mastro’s “malicious” campaign to end city health care contracts with that nonprofit after it protested the Giuliani administration’s handling of the AIDS crisis.

Mastro will have supporters as well. A City Hall spokesperson said former Gov. David Paterson, Assemblymember David Weprin and former Giulliani administration Deputy Mayor Fran Reiter were among those planning to publicly praise Mastro.

The formal hearing Tuesday comes more than four months after The New York Times first reported Adams planned to nominate Mastro as corporation counsel, replacing Sylvia Hinds-Radix, who was pushed out over a series of disagreements with top City Hall leadership about how to run the agency, as POLITICO has reported.

Adams’ plan to nominate Mastro was immediately rebuked in April by two caucuses within the City Council, which both found many things not to like about his long legal career. The body’s LGBTQIA+ Caucus took issue with Mastro’s role as a top aide in the mayoral administration of Republican Rudy Giuliani and the clandestine tactics he employed while in private practice representing a group of Upper West Side residents looking to boot a homeless shelter from their neighborhood. The Black, Latino and Asian Caucus excoriated the choice, citing his representation of Republican former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and calling Mastro “unfit to serve.”

Mastro’s formal nomination didn’t come until months later, when the mayor submitted his name to the Council on July 30. After the Council received the nomination at its Aug. 15 meeting, the body had 30 days to vote in the process known as advice and consent — which should culminate in a vote of the 51-member body during the second week of September.

In addition to his work within government, Mastro has had a long career in private practice, notably at law firms Gibson Dunn and King & Spalding — a career and paycheck he would be giving up to take command of the city’s legion of municipal attorneys.

Outside of his clients, Council members have shared concerns that Mastro would act more in the mayor’s political interests, rather than the interests of the city as a whole.

Mastro himself denied that in a July interview with POLITICO, emphasizing his interest in public service and his plans to use the office to bring more proactive litigation, similar to the state attorney general’s office.

Mastro, a registered Democrat, said he was proud to work for Giuliani and defended his controversial client list, which also includes oil giant Chevron and Christie during his “Bridgegate” scandal, saying he provided “zealous and ethical advocacy.”

Still, the Council is widely expected to vote down the nomination next month. If so, it would be an increasingly common rebuke to the mayor’s plans.

The body has overridden three mayoral vetoes on major pieces of legislation concerning housing, policing and the city’s jails. In turn, City Hall has turned to unconventional levers to foil other Council initiatives. Earlier this year, Adams created a charter revision commission in part to prevent a law that would have given lawmakers more power over agency appointments. And this month, the mayor declared a state of emergency that voided a bill regulating solitary confinement in city jails just before it was set to take effect.

The mayor has defended Mastro, telling reporters earlier this month he is “the best person to represent the city as we deal with all of these complex legal issues that we're facing, from the migrant asylum crisis to the FHEPS vouchers.”

And in addition to rolling out numerous endorsements of Mastro’s legal chops and character — few of whom had any political sway with sitting lawmakers — City Hall aides have called members repeatedly asking them to give Mastro a chance. And the white-shoe litigator himself has repeatedly hit the phones in the hopes of convincing members he has their best interests at heart.

Asked again Monday for his thoughts on the upcoming hearing, Adams gave one of his standard lines: “It’s all part of the process.”