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Bloomberg Keeps Out Of Sight To Avoid Questions About Goldsmith's Domestic Violence Arrest
By
Jen Chung
Published Sep 3, 2011
Modified Sep 3, 2011
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NYC Mayor's Office
By
Jen Chung
Published Sep 3, 2011
Modified Sep 3, 2011
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Last weekend, it was all Mayor Bloomberg all the time, with multiple Hurricane Irene updates a day, complete with explanations in Spanish. Now, our billionaire leader has dropped into near-hiding, apparently avoiding questions about former Deputy Mayor Stephen Goldsmith's D.C. arrest for domestic violence and 36+ hours in jail in late July. Bloomberg ditched his weekly radio show with John Gambling yesterday, and even Gambling said, "The mayor is going to have to answer the question. There's no way out of it... I would have said, 'What happened? What's the story?'... I think he made a mistake by not confronting it head-on."
While Goldsmith's wife decided against pressing charges, Goldsmith offered to step down because the incident would be distracting to the Mayor so the mayor's office said Goldsmith resigning to pursue "private-sector opportunities in infrastructure finance." Other public officials—ones who also happen to be eyeing mayoral runs in 2013—such as Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, Public Advocate Bill de Blasio and City Comptroller John Liu criticized Bloomberg for not being upfront about the arrest.
An unnamed top official told the Post that it was "insane" for Bloomberg to be silent and the Post adds, "His top advisers spent yesterday discussing what the mayor needs to do to get the Goldsmith scandal behind him. Some argued that Bloomberg needs to answer questions and shut the story down before he gives a speech Tuesday about the upcoming 9/11 anniversary, rather than allow lingering questions to overshadow that address." As for Bloomberg, he might be in NYC, but no one knows—when asked if he was in his townhouse, his girlfriend Diana Taylor said, "It's a big house, and I didn't see him."
Goldsmith's wife Margaret, who suffers from lupus, told the Indianaoplis Star that the fight was a personal matter, "I wanted Steve to leave the house and I was too tired to deal with it by myself. Neither one of us had slept in two nights. Judgment is clouded when exhaustion sets in." As for the D.C. police report that stated she had said to her husband, "I should have put a bullet through you years ago," Margaret Goldsmith claimed it was "a snide, snarky response to an old issue. I explained that to the police more than once. They knew it was not a legitimate statement or intended to be anything other than irritating."
The Post spoke to Goldsmith's first wife Melissa Martin, who said the news of the arrest shocked her and that Goldsmith was never violent with her, "We divorced because we lost a child," she said. "I had 11 miscarriages, and people don't grieve the same." She added, "I'm the first wife, she's the second so I don't want to say much. They've been married longer than we were... But the separation is hard. He's been in New York, she's been in Georgetown, it's like being married to a minister or doctor. I know she has been sick a very long time and it's hard on them. And they had the stress of trying to sell their house. There's been a lot going on."
Tagged
arrest
domestic violence
mayor bloomberg
resignation
stephen goldsmith
Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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