After facing tough questions for days about several investigations into his administration, Mayor Bill de Blasio on Wednesday hit the road to face another headache, asking Republican state lawmakers in Albany to extend his control of city schools. State House Reporter Zack Fink was there and filed this report.
The opening exchange between Mayor de Blasio and Republican Senate Education Committee Chairman Carl Marcellino kind of set the tone for the roughly five-hour hearing that followed.
"There was a point in time when you did not think highly of mayoral control and said so. Why did you change your mind?" asked Long Island Republican Marcellino.
"In fact my voting record and public statements indicates that when mayor Bloomberg proposed mayoral control of education I supported him," the mayor answered.
For the most part, the hearing was congenial with Senate Republicans staying on topic and avoiding their bumpy political relationship with de Blasio. The mayor is asking for a seven-year extension of mayoral control, last year he got just one year, which was viewed by many as a slight.
"I thought it was a very respectful hearing and a really good dialogue on a whole host of issues on how we make our schools better," the mayor said.
The only moment of tension came from Senator Terrence Murphy, who mayor de Blasio fought to defeat in 2014. The mayor's involvement in a handful of Hudson Valley races is now the focus of a federal investigation.
"Convince me," said Putnam County Republican Terrence Murphy. "Convince me why I should vote for mayoral control with all that allegations that are going on with your office, your administration why I should vote mayoral control."
The investigation focuses on whether the mayor's team funneled money to county committees including Democrats in Putnam County to subvert contribution limits to candidates.
"I represent Westchester County, Dutchess County and of course you know Putnam County," Murphy said.
Staying on message, Mayor de Blasio said the only reasonable option is to renew mayoral control.
"In all of this dialogue no said, 'Oh wait, I've got this other idea. You don't have people saying let's go back to the bad old days.'"
A second hearing on Mayoral control of schools is scheduled for May 19th in the city. Mayor de Blasio has been invited to testify but hasn't said whether or not he will. Mayoral control expires in June.