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Bloomberg Not Sorry He Covered Up Ex-Deputy Mayor's Domestic Violence Arrest
By
Jen Chung
Published Sep 4, 2011
Modified Sep 4, 2011
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By
Jen Chung
Published Sep 4, 2011
Modified Sep 4, 2011
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Mayor Bloomberg made his first remarks about former Deputy Mayor Stephen Goldsmith's resignation due to a domestic violence arrest in D.C.—and not his crappy Blizzageddon response, as most assumed. And in true Bloomberg fashion, those remarks were defiant...like kayaking-during-Hurricane Irene defiant. He told reporters this morning, "I make no apologies for either the fact that Mr. Goldsmith has left city government or for treating the Goldsmith's family with basic decency."
Bloomberg added, "Upon learning of Mr. Goldsmith's arrest I made two decisions, the first was that given the high standards we set for government and the serious circumstances surrounding his arrest, Mr. Goldsmith could no longer continue to work at City Hall. The second was that I did not believe it was right for our administration to put out a story about an incident that had potential to be even more suffering to the Goldsmith family."
Last Thursday, the Post reported that Goldsmith's wife called police to their Georgetown townhouse on July 30. A police report said that Margaret Goldsmith claimed her husband pushed her into a counter, threw a phone and broke it, and grabbed her and wouldn't let her go before she was able to get away. Goldsmith was arrested and kept in jail for at least 36 hours. (Margaret Goldsmith later said that the arrest was a mistake—she never pressed charges— and that their fight was a result of their exhaustion, saying Goldsmith was never violent to her and pointed out that they took a cruise after he resigned)
After the arrest, Goldsmith told Bloomberg and offered to step down, believing it would be a distraction, and Bloomberg agreed. His office released a statement on August 4 saying Goldsmith was "pursuing private-sector opportunities in infrastructure finance." However, once news of the arrest came to light, some of the mayor's fiercest critics—Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, Public Advocate Bill de Blasio, and City Comptroller John Liu—questioned why Bloomberg would be so mum on the arrest of the very important Deputy Mayor of Operations, who oversees the NYPD and FDNY. Even the Post, which usually supports Bloomberg's decisions (outside of bike lanes), ran an editorial saying, "Far more important, New Yorkers have a right to know when the second-most powerful man in city government is sitting in a DC jail cell."
Bloomberg said today that he expected the story to eventually come out... which doesn't explain why he cancelled his Friday radio show appearance, when he would have been questioned about it.
Tagged
arrest
coverup
domestic violence
mayor bloomberg
resignation
stephen goldsmith
Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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