Pay no attention to that lawyer behind the curtain fighting for New Jersey.
Under fire from reporters seeking to understand why Mayor Adams would consider appointing former Giuliani administration official and congestion pricing opponent Randy Mastro to a key post, the Adams administration mounted a brisk, full-throated and clearly pre-planned defense of the “top-notch, world-renowned lawyer.”
Mayor Adams was asked at least six times about Mastro at his weekly press conference, with reporters trying many tacks to get Hizzoner to address Mastro’s history of controversial clients, including the state of New Jersey as it seeks to halt congestion pricing.
The mayor deflected the questions, saying that Mastro has not yet been appointed corporation counsel.
“Once we decide who we put forward we’re going to announce it publicly,” said the mayor.
Even so, Chief Counsel Lisa Zornberg launched, virtually unprompted, into a full briefing on Mastro’s career, defending him from those who say his list of corporate clients is shameful.
“Randy's ... given tremendous service already in the past to New York City and to the people of New York,” said Zornberg. “Randy Mastro’s service, pro-bono work, civic engagement has been vast. He chairs the Citizens Union. … He has been the vice chair of the Legal Aid Society, he has done a ton of pro-bono work including racial justice cases.”
She even compared Mastro to second U.S. president John Adams, who, as a lawyer, once defended British officers accused of murder after the Boston Massacre. Zornberg said that Mastro, like Adams, took on the “hard cases.”
“That is what makes the United States spectacular,” said Zornberg.
Mastro’s list of corporate clients makes him a bitter pill to swallow for progressives. If he is appointed, he will face strong opposition in the majority Democrat City Council, which must approve any nominee for corporation counsel.
The chair of the Progressive Caucus, Council Member Sandy Nurse, told the Daily News that she would not support Mastro and would encourage her fellow progressives to follow her lead.
The Council’s 34-member Black, Latino and Asian Caucus issued a statement on X, calling the potential appointment of Mastro, “An affront to the principles of public service we all hold dear." The Caucus represents a majority of the Council, so if it votes as a bloc, Mastro won't be confirmed.
Streetsblog readers will remember Mastro as the pro-bono lawyer who helped those opposing a Prospect Park West Bike Lane, or for helping wealthy Upper West Side residents who threatened to sue the city because homeless New Yorkers were relocated to a hotel in their neighborhood to curb the spread of COVID-19.
Currently Mastro is the lead lawyer in an ongoing case where the state of New Jersey is suing New York for implementing congestion pricing.
Under questioning from Streetsblog, Adams refused to address whether Mastro’s involvement in the congestion pricing case would have any effect on the city’s plans to implement the toll given the mayor's continued concerns.
“We cannot demonize attorneys that represent their clients,” he said.
But Mastro is more than just a hired mouthpiece; Reuters reported that Mastro's law firm steeply discounted the price of his labor to argue on New Jersey's behalf in the congestion pricing case, a suggestion that Mastro is more than just a lawyer paid to represent a client.
The corporation counsel defends the city, its agencies, the Council, and the mayor. If approved by the Council, Mastro would succeed Sylvia Hinds-Radix, a former judge who has been serving in the role for over two years. Radix learned from the press that Mayor Adams planned to replace her amid tensions about how she planned to defend him amid multiple possible charges, according to the New York Post. That news prompted her to resign.
