Eric Adams’ pick for city lawyer pulls his bid ahead of formal rejection

NEW YORK — The City Council meeting Thursday is going to be a bit shorter, now that controversial attorney Randy Mastro is pulling his name for consideration to lead the city Law Department.

The change comes just two days before the legislative body was set to vote down his nomination by a wide margin.

“It is with a heavy heart that I respectfully request you withdraw your nomination of me to become the City’s next Corporation Counsel,” Mastro wrote in a letter to Mayor Eric Adams that City Hall shared with POLITICO, using the missive to excoriate the legislative body.

City Hall spokesperson Fabien Levy said the administration also sent the letter to the council, hoping they would pull the vote.

A diminished council calendar may be the only real impact.

Mayor Eric Adams’ nomination for the position known as corporation counsel seemed doomed from the start. In April Council Speaker Adrienne Adams and several legislative caucuses expressed their displeasure with the pick, given his affiliation with Republican former Mayor Rudy Giuliani — later a lawyer for Donald Trump — and Mastro’s own controversial client list.

Mastro’s fate was further sealed last month, when many legislators grilled him during a tense, 11-hour confirmation hearing .

“At the end of the day, I had a hearing, but most Council members weren’t listening. They’d already made up their minds for reasons unrelated to the merits,” Mastro wrote in the letter to Adams, which is harshly critical of the council’s conduct. He accuses the council of not properly listening to supporters who could vouch for him and quotes the Daily News’ editorial board’s assessment of the hearing as “a kangaroo court.”

Council Member Lincoln Restler, an Adams adversary, told POLITICO he wasn’t surprised by Mastro pulling his name after the “tough and rigorous” hearing.

“The corporation counsel represents not just the mayor, but the City Council and all of city government and Randy Mastro needed to convince council members that he shares our values,” he said. “And he clearly did not achieve that goal.”

The overwhelmingly Democratic council had concerns that Mastro — a Democrat who has worked for Republicans — was too politically conservative, and that he would be loyal to only Mayor Adams.

Members were also not eager to do the mayor a favor amid ongoing tensions with his side of City Hall.

Speaker Adams’ office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The mayor defended Mastro’s liberal bona fides and called him one of our nation’s top lawyers.

“It’s unfortunate that politics has seeped into this process and, as a result, will deprive New Yorkers of one of the most qualified candidates for this office our city has ever seen,” he said in a statement.

The Law Department has been led by Acting Corporation Counsel Muriel Goode-Trufant since June, after Sylvia Hinds-Radix was pushed out over disagreements with Adams’ inner circle. Goode-Trufant, a three-decade veteran of the department, is considered to be a top contender to remain in the position.