HE’S CANON FODDER
Chirl nix of St. Cabrini cost pol his ‘dream job’
The city’s cultural-affairs commissioner was pushed out of his “dream job” last week over First Lady Chirlane McCray’s statue snub of Mother Frances Cabrini, three top city officials claim.
Mayor de Blasio insisted during an interview with WNYC that Tom Finkelpearl’s departure from the Department of Cultural Affairs “had nothing to do with” the controversy over the Italian-American icon, who died in 1917 and was sainted by the Catholic Church in 1946.
But sources told The Post it’s clear the commissioner left his $221,151-ayear “dream job” over the fracas.
“Tom took the fall because the mayor was so upset about Cabrini that he thought DCLA should have figured this out in a way that didn’t expose him and Chirlane to criticism,” one source said, using the acronym for the city’s Department of Cultural Affairs.
“They screwed it up,” the source said, referring to de Blasio and McCray. “Now they’re getting beat up every day and Tom had to take the fall for it.”
The mayor’s office issued a terse press release this past Thursday announcing Finkelpearl’s resignation, expected at the end of December.
Just days earlier, Finkelpearl told confidantes he was looking forward to staying at the post through the mayor’s final term.
“He said he planned to serve out the two years left, and it was a dream job for him,” a second official said.
De Blasio claimed it was a “mutual decision,” while Finkelpearl called it
“an amicable separation.”
But the city officials — who spoke on the condition of anonymity — had a completely different take.
“Tom didn’t resign,” said the second source. “It was called a departure, [but] it is very clear he was pushed out.”
Finkelpearl drew the mayor’s ire for his failure to quell criticism of McCray’s She Built NYC initiative to erect public statues honoring historic women, sources said.
The commission came under intense criticism for refusing to award a monument to Cabrini after she received the most nominations in a citywide poll.
The long list of critics included actor Chazz Palminteri, who called McCray “racist” for selecting only one white subject for a statue out of seven honorees. Four were black and two were Haspanic.
Gov. Cuomo also weighed in, vowing to dedicate state funds to bring a Cabrini statue to the Big Apple.
“The mayor was livid about how the statue commission played out and blames the commissioner,” a third official said.
City Hall deputy press secretary Jane Meyer denied de Blasio or McCray played any role in pushing out the commissioner.
“That’s just plain wrong,” she said.