‘RATS’ ALL FOLKS?
City top doc’s slam at cops opens door for Blaz to can embattled commissioner
The coronavirus gloves are off.
A heated comment made nearly two months ago during a feud by two of de Blasio’s top officials has suddenly handed the mayor an opportunity to get rid of a commissioner that sources say is among his least favorites.
“I am concerned about it,” Mayor de Blasio said Thursday of a testy exchange that occurred between Health Department Commissioner Dr. Oxiris Barbot and NYPD Chief Terence Monahan in mid-March as the two tussled over a cache of surgical masks at the height of the coronavirus pandemic.
Barbot, incensed that NYPD cops showed up in a truck on March 18 at a FEMA warehouse to commandeer half a million masks meant for hospital workers, told Monahan in a cLontentious phone call that she didn’t give “two rats’ asses” about the cops, according to sources.
She then apologized to Monahan and the nasty spat appeared forgotten — until it got leaked to the press roughly six weeks later, just as de Blasio’s internal power struggle with Barbot and the Health Department reached its own peak.
“No public servant should ever in any way say anything disrespectful about the men and women of the NYPD,” de Blasio said Thursday at a press conference where Barbot’s comments were a main point of discussion. “They protect us and we need to protect them.”
If she did make such a comment, Barbot must apologize to the NYPD right away, he added. The NYPD did get some 250,000 masks a few days later, the agency confirmed.
To add to the political drama, the city’s police unions all lined up with strident statements that screamed for Barbot’s immediate dismissal — a unified reaction that some inside City Hall saw as evidence of a political hit designed to give de Blasio a reason to oust her.
“The timing of it is strange,” said a Council member who asked to remain anonymous.
“Stories like this come out when someone is trying to poke holes in a person’s character,” the legislator said, adding that Barbot and her agency were already at odds with the mayor over his decision to pull the new coronavirus contact tracing program from under her watch and hand it over to Mitchell Katz, head of the city’s hospitals.
“Plus, Monahan is a piece of work,” the Council member noted.
Another city official with inside knowledge of the workings of City Hall said the public flaying of Barbot was tied to a report in The New York Times published late Thursday — that detailed de Blasio’s ongoing anger with Barbot and his newfound preference for Katz.
“It’s pretty clear why they did that,” the source said. “He’s known about (The Times’ story) the past couple of days. Why do this yesterday? The timing is more than suspicious.”
A spokesman for the Health Department confirmed the tiff between Barbot and Monahan late Wednesday night but said the two had squared their differences sometime ago. An NYPD source also said the two mended fences, and noted “the apology seemed sincere.”
Neither the mayor nor Police Commissioner Dermot Shea — who also declined to
join the union clamor Thursday for Barbot’s firing — commented on why the accusations against her surfaced now.
But City Hall insiders said the palace intrigue was absolutely tied to de Blasio’s frustration with Barbot’s coronavirus responses — and her frustration with his reactions in return.
“City Hall has been doing everything they can to sideline her and weaken her authority. But she has stood firm and backed up the public health experts in her department even when the mayor didn’t like the advice they were giving,” said a source familiar with the tension between City Hall and the health department.
“The leaking of this story now is just the latest salvo launched against her.”
A source with knowledge of the call between Barbot and Monahan said the doctor’s response had gotten twisted out of context by police unions.
“Her response was not ‘I don’t give a f—k about cops,’” the source said. “She was trying to say I have other people to worry about. It’s not only just about the cops.”
Monahan also gave as good as he got, the law enforcement source added, but noted that narrative didn’t get included in the union reactions.
“That was packaged very nice and very neat to paint somebody anti-cop. They definitely railroaded her,” the source said.
Others were not so quick to give Barbot a pass.
“I’m glad that she apologized, that is an unacceptable remark to make,” City Council Speaker Corey Johnson said Thursday during a radio appearance.
An ex-de Blasio administration official also faulted Barbot for her “emotional outburst,” even while noting that in mid-March there was a severe shortage of protective gear for doctors and nurses treating COVID-19 patients. In fact, the NYPD already had 450,000 N-95 masks in its inventory in mid-March, a high-ranking source said. On March 13, with the Police Benevolent Association complaining about lack of protective gear, the city gave the NYPD an additional stockpile of 100,000 surgical masks.
But five days later, on March 18, the NYPD decided it needed more for school safety agents and others, so Monahan asked the Office of Emergency Management for 500,000 more surgical masks. Cops took a truck and drove to the federal Jersey warehouse to grab a stash — but nobody told Barbot, who knew doctors, nurses and hospitals were also in dire need of protective gear.
While many city officials were still unclear over the exact details of what happened, they all — including the mayor — blasted Sergeants Benevolent Association head Ed Mullins for calling Barbot a “b—-h” on social media as he howled for her firing.
“The reaction by Ed Mullins is completely out of bounds and pretty disgusting,” said Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, who also said Barbot’s comment was “foolish and insensitive.”
Williams also questioned the timing of the leak. “It seems to me it may have been a coordinated attack on Dr. Barbot” — but echoed City Comptroller Scott Stringer and other electeds in calling for a united front in trying to get New York through the ongoing coronavirus shut down.
“I just really wish we can all focus on what we need to do to get through this … let’s all work together to move forward,” the public advocate said.