Pols plan de Blasio ‘yeshiva’ probe
Not so fast, Mr. Mayor. Two city councilmen have blasted an investigative report that cleared Mayor de Blasio of wrongdoing, despite finding that Hizzoner interfered with the timing of a Department of Education report on yeshivas for political gain.
The duo will now hold a hearing to dig deeper.
“As far as we are concerned, what was released by the Department of Investigation and Special Commissioner of Investigation on Thursday concerning City Hall’s interference into an ongoing DOE investigation does not qualify as a report,” Democratic Councilmen Ritchie Torres (top right) of The Bronx and Mark Treyger (lower right) of Brooklyn said in a joint statement to The Post.
“A four-page, double-spaced summary, missing key details, with a cover page filled with photos, does not constitute a comprehensive analysis into a serious investigation that spanned multiple years,” the legislators said. The report displayed the agencies’ logos. “It seems strange that a multiyear investigation would yield little more than glorified bullet points,” Torres said Tuesday. “I was expecting something far more substantive.”
Treyger called it “a summary of a report the council has not seen,” saying it raised troubling questions.
“The DOI is supposed to work independently and not be tied or influenced in any way by anyone’s agenda,” Treyger said. “I don’t think it’s appropriate for anyone in the Mayor’s Office to contact the DOI and ask them to hit the brakes on any report because of the mayor’s agenda in Albany.”
Torres, chairman of the council’s Oversight and Investigations Committee, and Treyger, Education Committee chairman, aim to hold a hearing in February “to en-ensure there iss genuine independent” over-oversight of the largest city agency, the DOE.
They wantt to see the full documentation and evidence gathered for the report, theyy said.
Torres also noted the report had “noo recommended reforms or consequences — none,” adding, “As Shakespeares said, ‘Something’s rotten in the state of Denmark.’ ”