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Randy Mastro has been in the public eye for four decades.
He served as a federal prosecutor, a deputy mayor under Rudy Giuliani and later, in private practice and played a high-profile role in a number of political controversies.
Most famously, he was hired by then-New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie to conduct an internal review of the Bridgegate scandal.
“Governor Christie had no involvement in the decision to close these lanes and no prior knowledge of it,” Mastro said at a news conference in 2014 announcing his findings.
Now, Mastro may be headed back to the city government.
Mayor Eric Adams is expected to name him the corporation counsel, the top attorney representing the city government.
The hire is raising eyebrows for reasons beyond just his ties to Giuliani.
Mastro is currently representing New Jersey in its fight to block New York’s congestion pricing plan, and has frequently battled City Hall over the years, as when he argued for striking down former Mayor Bill de Blasio’s Styrofoam ban.
“This is a crazy decision by the city,” he said in a 2015 interview on NY1’s “Inside City Hall,” holding up a Styrofoam container. “As a former deputy mayor, I’ve seen some crazy ones over the years.”
But Mastro’s reputation as a bulldog may appeal to Adams, who faces a swirl of legal troubles, including an FBI investigation into his fundraising and a sexual assault lawsuit.
Mastro, who appeared alongside Adams at a mayoral announcement in 2022, has made political contributions to the mayor — a contrast to his adversarial stance toward previous administrations.
Mastro would the replace city’s current corporation counsel, Sylvia Hinds-Radix.
