The City Hall news release about first lady Chirlane McCray’s public schedule announced that she would hold an Oct. 10 training session with the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene to mark World Mental Health Day. There would be a photo-op at the Bronx event, but no question-and-answer session.
So why no Q-and-A at Friday’s event?
It was meant to avoid answering questions about why McCray’s chief of staff, Rachel Noerdlinger, has not been fired following a torrent of criticism for failing to include required information on disclosure forms.
News stories have revealed that Noerdlinger — who is also a mayoral aide — lives in Edgewater, N.J., with her boyfriend, a convicted killer and drug dealer. The boyfriend, Hassaun McFarlan, also has called cops “pigs” in online rants.
Although Mayor Bill de Blasio has told reporters Noerdlinger’s matter is a “case closed,” he apparently does not understand that some things don’t stop on his command. The pressure continues to mount:
News website DNAinfo.com reported that in 2011 Noerdlinger and her son were in her car with McFarlan when he was pulled over in Edgewater for driving in the wrong direction on a one-way street. According to police documents, the officer smelled marijuana in the car and arrested McFarlan for possession. Noerdlinger was ticketed for allowing him to drive her car without a license.
The New York Post reported Noerdlinger also left a $28,000 tax lien off city disclosure forms. De Blasio aides said she has updated the information.
The Daily News recently editorialized that de Blasio had a “clear duty: Rachel Noerdlinger must go.”
Maybe Noerdlinger’s lapses were OK when she was the spokeswoman for the Rev. Al Sharpton. But when city taxpayers are paying her $170,000-a-year salary, that’s not OK.
Meanwhile, Sharpton said coverage of Noerdlinger “smells to me like a witch hunt.”
When de Blasio placed Sharpton next to him at a City Hall event following the “chokehold” death of Eric Garner in Staten Island, with Police Commissioner William Bratton on his other side, some people at 1 Police Plaza said Sharpton was running the NYPD.
Until the mayor fires Noerdlinger, they say, Sharpton is also running City Hall.
