City Hall may have thought it could bury the latest news about the mayor's relationship with consultant Jonathan Rosen by dumping 1,500 pages of emails on Thanksgiving Eve but the story about the mayor's ties with this outside adviser is not going away. City Hall released the emails as part of its response to a lawsuit from NY1 and the New York Post. And on Tuesday the mayor faced an onslaught of questions from the City Hall press corps. Our Grace Rauh has the story.
Mayor Bill de Blasio is on the defensive. His relationship with consultant Jonathan Rosen is coming under fire from government watchdogs and others. And he's facing a new round of questions after saying this on Inside City Hall Monday:
"Jonathan Rosen's never talked to me since I've been mayor about a client," the mayor told host Errol Louis.
Emails released by City Hall last week, though, show that on at least two occasions the mayor reached out to Rosen about a client. In one case, de Blasio was trying to decide whether to do anything to honor Jason Collins, who is gay, after he signed with the Nets.
"Cc'ing Rosen since he represents Barclay's Center," de Blasio wrote.
Rosen suggested the mayor and his son buy regular tickets to Collins' first game and tweet about it.
"If he had nothing to do with the Barclays Center he, I think, would have given the exact same advice," the mayor said.
Another time, Rosen wrote top mayoral aides with the cell phone number of his developer client, Jed Walentas of Two Trees. The subject line indicated that the mayor had emailed earlier about wanting to call him.
"Will you let me know if they connect? Thanks," Rosen wrote.
The mayor was asked how many times he spoke or met with Rosen's client.
"I'm not going to try and do it on the spot but I can say very few," de Blasio said,
City Hall released the emails as part of its response to a lawsuit from NY1 and the New York Post.
The mayor is also insisting that his close relationship with Rosen, who represents clients with business before the city, got clearance from city lawyers and the city's Conflicts of Interest Board.
The board has said nothing specific about Rosen and any conflicts his work outside City Hall might pose. The board did state that the mayor's non-profit, which Rosen worked for, was a "partner" with the mayor's office.
A spokesman for the Mayor has argued that by calling the mayor's Campaign for One New York non-profit a partner, City Hall had the right to shield Rosen's emails connected to that work from the public.