NYC Council Speaker Adams still unsure about Randy Mastro’s nomination as mayor’s top lawyer

New York City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams said Thursday she still hasn’t made up her mind whether to support or oppose Mayor Adams’ nomination of controversial litigator Randy Mastro to become his administration’s next top attorney.

But in a sign Mastro faces an uphill battle in his bid to get confirmed by the Council as the city’s next corporation counsel, the speaker told reporters she will “take a lot of input” from her fellow Democratic members, dozens of whom have already vowed to block his nomination.

“I take the lead from my members, particularly when it comes to appointments,” she said in 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 ahead of his confirmation hearing set for Aug. 27.

Mastro, an ex-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 by representing fossil fuel interests.

Dozens of Democratic Council members have said Mastro’s legal record — as well as allegations that he misused his office for political purposes while in the Giuliani administration — makes him unfit to serve as corporation counsel. The Council backlash against the Mastro pick started back in April, when it first emerged the mayor was considering nominating him, and the response has caused many Council members to say publicly they doubt he’ll get confirmed.

While she kept mum about where she stands on Mastro’s nomination, Speaker Adams, who holds large sway over her members, confirmed she recently met with him privately.

She declined to share any details about how the sit-down went. “It was a meeting,” she said.

The corporation counsel oversees the Law Department and represents the mayor and other city employees in a variety of legal matters.

Adams nominated Mastro after Sylvia Hinds-Radix, his first corporation counsel, resigned in June. Her exit came after sources said she clashed with top Adams administration officials about sensitive legal matters, including over whether the mayor should’ve been entitled to city legal representation against a civil lawsuit accusing him of sexual assault.

Originally Published: August 15, 2024 at 5:45 p.m.