Editorial | The case for Randy Mastro as NYC’s top lawyer

Throughout his legal career, Randy Mastro has taken on and worked for all comers — nonprofits and corporations, elected officials and ordinary citizens, Democrats and Republicans.

Like most attorneys, Mastro has made his career with an open mind, focused on the best interest of his clients. He said as much in an interview with amNewYork Metro this past week.

“I have done what lawyers in private practice do: I represent the firm’s clients zealously and ethically and try and get them the best results,” Mastro told us.

Now, Mastro — a former deputy mayor in the Giuliani administration — is being asked to shift into public service for the second time in his career. Mayor Eric Adams nominated Mastro to be the city’s corporation counsel, the top lawyer in city government, responsible for representing New York City in legal matters in a position very much akin to a state attorney general.

Mastro’s nomination to the post has generated controversy. The City Council, which has been at odds with the mayor, has advice-and-consent power to review and confirm the nomination. Early on, two progressive caucuses publicly voiced their opposition to Mastro, citing his past work with former Mayor Rudy Giuliani and during the administration of New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie amid the Bridgegate scandal.

Both Giuliani and Christie are Republicans on divergent paths; Giuliani is now an acolyte to Donald Trump, Christie is now an outspoken opponent of the former president. Yet some progressive City Council members seek to paint Mastro with the same broad brush as other Republicans, which is misguided and unfortunate.

Mastro, in fact, is anti-Trump; he has successfully sued the former president in court on behalf of racial justice protesters whom the then-president ordered forcefully removed from Washington DC’s Lafayette Square in June 2020. He also celebrated Trump’s conviction in April on 34 felony counts in connection to the hush money scheme involving porn star Stormy Daniels.

He also chairs the good government group Citizens Union and serves as board vice chair of the Legal Aid Society, which protects the legal rights of those who can least afford representation and is outspokenly critical of many Adams administration policies.

By all accounts of his legal career, Mastro is what you’d expect from a good attorney — diligently representing his clients, whomever they may be, and putting his focus on the law, not on politics.

The job of corporation counsel for New York City is a tough one. Mastro’s vision for the job, as he told us, is not to be the mayor’s lawyer, but the city’s lawyer. He seeks to be a proactive attorney and pledged to a mediator between Mayor Adams and the City Council in order to avoid them litigating against one another, as has already happened numerous times in recent months.

The City Council ought to see Mastro’s whole record and realize he’s the right person for the job.

Read More: https://www.amny.com/editorial/