All is fair in love for Carranza
City not probing ex-DOE chief’s romance
City investigators are not probing whether former Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza had an affair with a subordinate he hired — and won’t say if they are still looking into multiple corruption complaints filed against him.
Carranza, who was appointed to head the city Department of Education in 2018, has been accused of hiring several pals that year for six-figure DOE jobs that were never publicly posted.
He’s now shacked up in San Antonio, Texas, with one of those pals, Raquel Sosa. The pair met years ago in Houston, when Carranza was that city’s schools superintendent and she was an elementary-school principal.
It isn’t clear when their relationship became more than professional, but Sosa moved into Carranza’s Texas home months before she quit her DOE job in late August. She listed the love nest as her address when she registered to vote on March 20, five days after Carranza stepped down in New York City.
The City Charter prohibits financial relationships, such as cohabitation, between superiors and subordinates at city agencies.
Carranza, 54, is still technically married. His wife, Monique, filed for divorce in August 2020. Sosa, 47, was divorced by the time she moved to New York in 2018.
When Carranza quit as chancellor, he said he needed time to mourn relatives who died from COVID-19. Less than a month later, he took a job at IXL Learning, an educational tech firm that does millions of dollars in New York City business.
The City Charter prohibits government employees from soliciting, negotiating or accepting a job at a city vendor while in city service. It also limits how former public employees working for city vendors can interact with the city.
In April, Councilman Robert Holden (D-Queens) called on the Conflicts of Interest Board and Department of Investigation to probe Carranza’s job negotiations.
The DOI said at the time that it referred the matter to the Special Commissioner of Investigation for schools.
Holden said he also lodged a complaint over Carranza’s hiring of cronies. The SCI told The Post on Friday that this case was closed and no action had been taken.
Regina Gluzmanova, an SCI rep, said the office received “numerous complaints” about Carranza and his
It stinks to high heaven. The fact that the mayor’s not interested speaks volumes about his administration.
Councilman Robert Holden (D-Queens), on city investigators’ refusals to probe the relationship between exChancellor Richard Carranza and ex-DOE official Raquel Sosa
administration during and immediately after his tenure.
Without elaborating, she said “certain matters” had been closed, while others may be pending.
Gluzmanova said the SCI had never received a complaint or uncovered allegations regarding Carranza and Sosa’s relationship and would not be investigating it.
“As Sosa and Carranza are no longer employed by the city, nor do either reside within the jurisdiction, we feel that the best use of our limited resources is to continue with the important investigations that benefit the students, families and taxpayers of New York,” she said.
The SCI has investigated former DOE employees in the past.
“It stinks to high heaven,” Holden said. “The fact that the mayor’s not interested speaks volumes about his administration.”
A DOI rep referred questions about Carranza to the SCI. A spokesman for the Conflicts of Interest Board said confidentiality rules prohibited him from discussing complaints or investigations.
Mayor de Blasio’s office did not return a request for comment.