YOU’RE FIRED!
WATCHDOG WHO FEUDED WITH MAYOR IS CANNED
Mayor de Blasio took the highly unusual step Friday of firing Department of Investigations Commissioner Mark Peters, citing a recent finding that the city’s top watchdog had exceeded his authority by trying to merge an outside schools’ investigator unit into his agency.
Peters said he would file a response to his termination next week and declined further comment. But a source familiar with the matter said he will contest the findings and assert that de Blasio has an “alternative motivation” — pending DOI investigations of the mayor’s office and other agencies.
The firing came as the mayor struggled to explain a bungled response to Thursday night’s snowstorm when New Yorkers found themselves trapped in hours-long commutes during a slushy rush hour. Shortly after noon on Friday, Peters was summoned by First Deputy Mayor Dean Fuleihan to the city’s law department.
There Fuleihan handed Peters a one-page letter and told him he was fired. He was given until Wednesday, the day before Thanksgiving, to provide a written “public explanation” of the behavior that de Blasio used to justify the termination.
The letter, titled “Statement of Reasons for the Removal” of Peters, attributed the firing to Peters’ actions earlier this year in attempting to bring the special commissioner of investigation for the city schools under DOI’s wing.
The letter cited a report last month filed by attorney James McGovern, who was brought in to examine Peters’ handling of SCI. McGovern decided that Peters had no legal authority to take over SCI. The mayor’s letter said that Peters and unnamed “senior staff” had “offered statements and conducted themselves in a manner indicating a lack of concern for following the law” while the SCI merger was taking place.
In response, some elected officials and government affairs experts questioned whether de Blasio’s decision to get rid of Peters was simply a highly disturbing act of retaliation.
Some even compared it to President Trump’s firing of Attorney General Jeff Sessions as a way of hampering the ongoing investigation by special prosecutor Robert Mueller into allegations that Trump’s campaign colluded with the Russians to interfere with the 2016 election.
On Friday, Public Advocate and state Attorney Generalelect Letitia James said de Blasio’s firing of Peters “is reminiscent of Trump-like behavior.” She noted that McGovern did not call for Peters’ firing and added, “It is my understanding that there are several pending DOI investigations that are particularly troublesome.”
James called on the City Council to question Peters in a closed-door hearing about the status of those cases “and what role they may have played in (his) dismissal.”
A source familiar with the matter said Peters will file a letter early next week with the City Council contesting the allegations that he acted improperly and charging that the mayor has an “alternative motivation” for getting rid of him: the DOI is set to release the findings of its investigations into the mayor’s office, the NYPD and the city Housing Authority.
Peters only comment was a prepared statement filed shortly after he was fired that praised DOI for its hard work.
“I expect that despite my departure the (DOI staff ) will continue the multiple investigations regarding misconduct now pending in the agency without fear or favor,” the statement said. “DOI’s work over the past five years has exposed corruption and misconduct and forced serious systematic reforms in multiple agencies. The staff at DOI are among the most talented in law enforcement and it has been an honor to work with them.”
It’s not clear if Peters will be able to reverse his firing. The Council could open an inquiry and even hold a hearing, but that decision could be tempered by McGovern’s finding that Peters made misleading statements to the Council during a March hearing on the SCI merger.
On Friday, Speaker Johnson declined to discuss the Council’s options. Instead he offered both praise and a mild rebuke, noting that Peters “exposed significant issues at NYCHA, the Administration for Children’s Services and the mayor’s Office for Contract Services,” but adding, “the McGovern report raised questions about his ability to continue in his role.”
During a press conference Friday on the city’s sluggish reaction to the snowstorm, de Blasio rejected the idea that his firing of Peters was an act of retaliation.
“There’s no dirty laundry to air out,” he said. “He can say whatever he wants. I think every investigation from anywhere, internal, external — we’ve cooperated with, very comfortable with those facts being discussed. I expect him to respond. I have no idea how he’ll respond, but I do know on the specific issues raised in the McGovern report, he has responded to those previously, and I don’t think those answers were sufficient.”
The mayor’s letter did not include a list of other allegations about Peters’ alleged abusive behavior that city Corporation Counsel Zachary Carter had assembled and presented to the mayor last spring. The allegations included complaints that Peters had used threatening language to city staff during discussions of DOI’s planned move to another office.
De Blasio announced that Leslie Brovner, Peters’ current top deputy, will take his place as acting DOI commissioner — even though the McGovern report had also raised questions about Brovner’s behavior during the SCI merger.
The mayor also nominated a top lawyer in the state attorney general’s office and former federal prosecutor, Margaret Garnett, to serve as the permanent commissioner of DOI.