I don’t recall hiring any black staffers
25-year pol’s shocking admission in lawsuit
A Bronx lawmaker implicated in a racially charged school segregation scandal said he never hired a black staffer in his 25-year career as a lawmaker, court documents show.
Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz made the shocking admission in a deposition for a defamation suit he faces from a whistleblower educator who won a $230,000 settlement from the city in October over retaliation he faced for speaking out on the scandal.
Former Bronx Public School 24 Assistant Principal Manny Verdi claimed Dinowitz staffers blocked lowincome kids of color from enrolling in the school in a mushrooming scandal that claimed Verdi's job as well as that of the school's principal and the district superintendent.
In a separate suit, Verdi charges the Bronx Democrat with defamation for saying Verdi caused problems at the sought-after school.
Under questioning in a deposition for that suit, Dinowitz admitted he couldn't recall ever hiring any black employees.
“I don't know that I've had any,” he responds when asked about ever having any African-Americans on his staff.
Asked how many people have worked for him during his tenure as a lawmaker, Dinowitz says he's unsure, according to the court documents.
“Twenty, I don't know; I'd have to look at the records to figure it out,” he says.
Verdi sued the city Education Department in 2016, claiming a superintendent pressured him to resign after he accused Dinowitz of meddling in the admissions process to prevent poor, minority kids from enrolling.
Verdi said he became concerned when Dinowitz began sending his then-chief of staff, Randi Martos, to oversee kindergarten registration at the school.
He claimed the move was done by Dinowitz to ensure poor, minority students from other parts of the district were not allowed into the Riverdale school — a claim that Dinowitz has denied.
The assemblyman's lawyer denied the claim that Dinowitz had not hired any African-Americans and said the court transcript was in error.
“The claim is inaccurate and incomplete,” lawyer Charles Moerdler said. “There is only one full-time staff employee in Albany, who has worked for him for 10 years. All the members of the staff of the Judiciary Committee are hired by the Assembly speaker, who is black.”
Moerdler said that he was uncertain about the number of African-American staffers at the assemblyman's district office.
“I know that at least one person in that office is Latino and I'm sure that there are black employees there,” Moerdler said.
Moerdler dismissed the city settlement with Verdi as inconsequential to the case.
“The city settled the case because the city (spends) money like a drunken sailor,” he said.