Councilmembers Call For The Removal Of Mayor de Blasio From Office

BROOKLYN – Council Member Carlos Menchaca has introduced legislation calling on Governor Andrew Cuomo “to bring charges to effectuate the removal of the Mayor for failing to protect the safety and promote the general welfare of the public.”

“After seven years of failed leadership, the COVID-19 pandemic and the recent spectacle of police brutality have revealed Mayor de Blasio to be the single greatest obstacle to peace and justice in New York City,” he said in a Medium post. “He must resign, or the Council must remove him from office, if we are to create a fair and just people’s budget that defunds the NYPD and joins a national movement to re-imagine public safety — not as punishment through police and prisons, but as community investment, starting with a pandemic recovery plan for all New Yorkers.”

“Mayor de Blasio’s failure to work with the City Council on a budget that ensures a just and equitable recovery,” he continued, “and his failure to truly hold the police accountable for its brutal response to New Yorkers protesting police brutality, underscore his unfitness for office, and thousands of New Yorkers have taken to the streets to voice their displeasure by calling on Mayor de Blasio to resign.”

Menchaca is joining Queens Council Member Eric Ulrich. Ulrich also introduced a resolution today stating the Mayor failed “to maintain public order and safety during this period of persistent social unrest.”

Here are the reasons Menchaca listed why the Mayor should resign or be removed from office. The reasons include:

• By failing to negotiate in good faith with the City Council, Mayor de Blasio has undermined the general welfare by depriving New Yorkers a reviewable budget less than 14 days until the budget deadline during the worst pandemic in a century.
• By failing to remove police officers from duty who attacked, arrested, or used excessive force against peaceful protesters, Mayor de Blasio has failed to provide for the public’s safety and undermined their constitutional right to peaceably assemble.
• By allowing the police to arrest individuals longer than 24 hours and preventing lawyers from providing timely legal counsel, Mayor de Blasio undermined the public’s right to due process.
• By failing to remove police officers from duty who attacked, arrested, or used excessive force against members of the press, Mayor de Blasio has failed to provide for the public’s safety and undermined the public’s constitutional right to a free press.
• By failing to force police officers to comply with laws that allow the public to identify police officers through their badge numbers, Mayor de Blasio undermined the public’s trust and right to identify police officers.
• By failing to disclose or even acknowledge that federal immigration enforcement agents were assisting the police, Mayor de Blasio undermined the public’s trust and endangered the safety of immigrant New Yorkers.

The legislation also states that by eliminating the Summer Youth Employment Program (SYEP)…  and making ” drastic cuts to education and employment opportunities while prioritizing the needs of a militarized and unaccountable police department, Mayor de Blasio contradicted his own promises to ensure a just and equitable recovery for all New Yorkers.”

“Mayor de Blasio won his first mayoral election in 2013 on a democratic mandate to reform the police and criminal justice system but has consistently impeded reforms that would hold police officers more accountable to the public, including by failing to fire NYPD Officer Daniel Pantaleo for murdering Eric Garner in a chokehold in 2014 and dramatically expanding the interpretation of section 50-a of the Civil Rights Law, which curtailed transparency of police misconduct complaints,” legislation read.

“By failing to protect the public from police abuses, endangering immigrants through cooperation with ICE, and failing to allocate adequate resources to social services to ensure a just and equitable recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, Mayor de Blasio has failed to perform the most fundamental duties of his office and cannot be trusted to do so in the future.”

At the beginning of the month, Cuomo did mention a possible removal of the Mayor, though he said it is not necessary at this point.

“Yes, a mayor can be removed. It has not happened. I cannot find a precedent. But theoretically, it is legally possible,” he said in his press conference on June 2. “It is a bizarre thing to try to do in this situation. I think it would only make a bad situation worse. Also, I don’t think it’s necessary.”

Freddi Goldstein, the Mayor’s Press Secretary, said, “The mayor was elected – and then elected again – overwhelmingly by the people of this city. His focus is on serving them, not the politically expedient background noise.”