Hizzoner’s wife stands alone on a pedestal
Mayor de Blasio was quick to announce that his wife, Chirlane McCray, would lead a new Racial Truth and Reconciliation Commission last week — but he’s taking his time to add anyone else to the group while giving it broad discretion over the future of controversial city monuments.
A City Hall spokeswoman told The Post “members and leadership will be named in the coming weeks.” She added that the mayor is “not being prescriptive with what actions the commissions will ultimately call for” in terms of a monuments review.
Critics have accused de Blasio of using city resources to boost his wife’s political future as she has expressed interest in running for Brooklyn borough president next year.
Democratic City Councilman Robert Cornegy Jr., who is campaigning for the Brooklyn post, blasted the mayor’s handling of the commission.
“To make this one appointment and then leave it open-ended doesn’t suggest the level of commitment that I’d like to see not only as a council member but as a black man in this city who is counting on a solid turn and pivot and not one that is celebratory,” Cornegy said.
He added that there are more qualified people to lead the commission than McCray.
“I’d rather see someone who has a deep historical context and has some connection to academia,” he said, noting there are many prominent professors at the City University of New York who would fit the bill.
The Rev. Kevin McCall, a civilrights leader who helped organize the George Floyd rally in Brooklyn’s Cadman Plaza where de Blasio was booed by participants earlier this month, said he’s advising City Hall about the commission.
He told The Post it’s “good to have the mayor’s wife” on the commission “because she has his ear, but now there should be someone else who’d be able to co-chair with her who’d be in the community trenches.”
Last week, de Blasio said McCray’s commission will review city statues and structures honoring historic figures tainted by slavery, including George Washington and Thomas Jefferson.