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Will De Blasio Fire His Health Commissioner Over An Insensitive Remark?
By
Christopher Robbins
Published May 14, 2020
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Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office
By
Christopher Robbins
Published May 14, 2020
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Two months ago, as COVID-19 began to shut down New York City, overwhelm its hospitals, and kill thousands of New Yorkers, the Health Commissioner allegedly made a harsh remark to an NYPD executive about N95 masks. Today, that conversation is being held up as a reason to fire the head of the city's Department of Health in the middle of a pandemic.
On Wednesday night, the New York Post ran a story about the "heartless remark" Health Commissioner Dr. Oxiris Barbot reportedly made to NYPD Chief of Department Terence Monahan in "late March."
From the Post:
Monahan asked Barbot for 500,000 masks but she said she could only provide 50,000, the sources said. “I don’t give two rats’ asses about your cops,” Barbot said, according to sources. “I need them for others.”
The Post's story then cites "a source who was present during a tabletop exercise at the city Office of Emergency Management headquarters in Brooklyn in March," who remembered a "very tense moment" between the two city executives, after Chief Monahan asked Dr. Barbot about PPE.
That source portrays the mayor as an innocent bystander, whose support of the NYPD is swift and unwavering:
De Blasio, who was seated between Monahan and Barbot, asked her, “Oxiris, what is he talking about?” the source said.
When Monahan said the gear was vital to keeping cops safe, de Blasio said, “You definitely need it,” and told Barbot, “Oxiris, you’re going to fix this right now,” the source said.
Republican City Councilmember Joe Borelli and Staten Island Congressman Max Rose both told the Post that Barbot should be fired. All of the heads of the city's major police unions, who are sworn officers drawing taxpayer-funded salaries, said Barbot should be fired, including Ed Mullins, head of the Sergeants Benevolent Association, who himself is under NYPD investigation for making crass comments and sharing racist videos.
The Twitter account Mullins oversees called Barbot a "bitch" with "blood on her hands."
Early Wednesday morning, the Daily News ran their own story, with more context around why Dr. Barbot and Chief Monahan were arguing
The standoff over the in-demand N-95 masks —headed for the swamped hospital and health care workers overwhelmed by a daily flood of COVID-19 patients — came in mid-March when cops showed up unnannounced at an out-of-state FEMA warehouse and demanded the protective gear... Cops remained at the warehouse for several hours while the two honchos hashed it out, one source said.
The Department of Health didn't deny the exchange, but said that "Dr. Barbot and Chief Monahan have a good working relationship."
"During the height of COVID, while our hospitals were battling to keep patients alive, there was a heated exchange between the two where things were said out of frustration but no harm was wished on anyone," the statement reads. "The Commissioner apologized for her contribution to the exchange, the apology was accepted and agreement was arrived between the two to ensure that respirators were delivered to members of the force. This has always been about saving the lives of our healthcare workers, police officers and every New Yorker who is fighting through this pandemic."
The NYPD did not respond to our question of whether Chief Monahan had accepted Dr. Barbot's apology. The Mayor's Office didn't respond to our request for an explanation on the situation. NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea has maintained all along that any requests for PPE from his officers would be answered and fulfilled—on March 31st, the NYPD got a large supply of masks and safety equipment from the Police Foundation.
So if two city officials had an argument, one of them apologized, and they continued to do their jobs to the best of their ability, what's the issue? And why now?
The Post's source's flattering depiction of de Blasio and the timing of the story suggests the mayor may be looking for a convenient, if underhanded way to fire his Health Commissioner. (The mayor does not have the best track record of clean breaks with his deputies. Just ask Shola Olatoye, Joe Esposito, Mark Peters, or the former Health Comissioner, Dr. Mary Bassett.)
The mayor's distrust of the Health Department goes back to the Legionnaires outbreak, Politico has reported, and de Blasio was angry with Dr. Barbot's mixed messaging on how the coronavirus can spread. Dr. Barbot was reportedly frustrated when the mayor dragged his feet on closing schools and restaurants. The mayor recently assigned the task of contract tracing to the city's public hospital corporation, cutting out the city Health Department altogether.
Asked multiple times about Dr. Barbot's alleged comments during his Thursday morning press conference, the mayor said he was pleased overall that the city's metrics for battling the coronavirus were trending downward, and condemned Mullins' comments as "misogynist." But the mayor declined to offer a fulsome message of support for Dr. Barbot.
"What is being reported, as I understand it, is a conversation between Dr. Barbot and Chief Monahan, I don't have the full details yet and I want the full details," de Blasio said, suggesting that if what he heard is true, "the commissioner needs to apologize to the men and women of the NYPD, unquestionably."
Contrast the mayor's response today with what he told the press on March 16th, when he was asked about a report in the Times that his "top health officials" had threatened to resign over the mayor's slow response to the pandemic.
"This is a crisis. This is not personalities and games. This is a crisis," de Blasio said. "I don't know what you guys think are the right standards, but I would hope you would raise them a bit in the middle of a crisis."
Tagged
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analysis
bill de blasio
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Christopher Robbins
Christopher Robbins is a New York City reporter covering transportation, affordable housing, local politics, and criminal justice. His work has also appeared in New York Magazine, The Village Voice and The New York Times. Chris is a graduate of Patrick Henry High School in Roanoke, Virginia, and enjoys biking to Fort Tilden in the summertime.
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