Murphy blasts Mayor de Blasio for chickening out of Senate hearing

ALBANY, NY - New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio indicated today he would not attend the second New York State Senate hearing on the extension of Mayoral Control of New York City schools. State Senator Terrence Murphy issued the following statement in response to the news:

"In 2002, Mayoral control was created following decades of mismanagement at agencies including the New York City Board of Education and School Construction Authority, which were investigated by the Comptroller, Inspector General and even a Moreland Commission. Looking back, this was the appropriate decision. It put an end to a system that rewarded rubber stamp reviews, politically-connected contractors and self-dealing at the public's expense."

"The State now has an opportunity to examine the renewal of the trust we have place in the Office of the Mayor to manage this $9 billion investment by state taxpayers. I would think that if Mayor de Blasio had nothing to hide, he would be willing to come forward to speak on the record. Since he has indicated he will skip tomorrow's hearing, in my view, he should be subpoenaed and compelled to testify.

"He says its about results, but with at least five separate ongoing independent criminal investigations by the U.S. Attorney and others into the Mayor's fundraising and the alleged pay-to-play culture at City Hall, there are serious questions that Mayor de Blasio must answer about why we should continue to trust him to run the school system. As a Senator I wanted the ability to ask the Mayor if he has ever accepted or solicited donations from entities that have matters "pending or about to be pending" before the City, the Panel for Education Policy or the School Construction Authority.

"Mayoral control is about trust. Mayor de Blasio failed to convince me to trust him in our first encounter. His unwillingness to answer questions from me, the press, the public and other Senators proves to us once and for all that we cannot trust Mayor Bill de Blasio."

The hearing is still scheduled to go on tomorrow at 10 a.m. in the Senate Hearing Room at 250 Broadway. That location is across the street from City Hall.