Comptroller Scott Stringer decried Mayor Bill de Blasio’s spending of $6.9 billion worth of fast-tracked city contracts, while announcing Tuesday he’d taken the mayor to court to put a stop to the “unacceptable” practice enacted in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The comptroller’s lawsuit, filed in Manhattan Supreme Court, is aimed at bringing back procurement laws and regulations that mandate comptroller oversight on City Hall’s spending — regulations that have been suspended since March 2020.
“This mayor does not have a great track record on transparency, [Freedom of Information Law], and good government, and I’ll be damned if we’re going to walk out on December 31 with $7 billion truly unaccounted for,” Stringer said at a press conference in Lower Manhattan.
“We can’t let this man’s hubris outlast the pandemic, or even his mayoralty,” said Stringer, who in June received just five percent of first-choice votes in his failed bid to succeed de Blasio.
On March 16, 2020 — just before the COVID-19 pandemic reached its peak in New York City — de Blasio signed an executive order that put a pause on regular procurement rules, with the aim of expediting the process with which the city buys goods and services during the emergency.
But as the Big Apple bounces back from the pandemic’s throes, Stringer wants to bring back normal checks and balances on city spending.
“The mayor has extended the procurement emergency powers more than 100 times, including as recently as last week, allowing the city to continue to spend without the oversight that my office is charter mandated to provide,” said Stringer on Tuesday. “People, this is unacceptable.”
“We’re gonna get to the bottom of this,” the city’s top bean counter vowed.
It's taking Stringer 14 months to get to the bottom of this, and since then the Blaz has made his job wholly irrelevant. What a wimp.
3 comments:
I don't know whom I dislike more, the putz Stinger or the the boy mayor di Blasio.
Thank god we will soon be rid of both. Good riddance.
It's ridiculous that city projects become more expensive because the comptroller has to audit and delay every project.
7 billion dollars unaccounted for.Who says the pandemic was bad for business? lots of people made lots of money off this gravy train the Democrats run.
Post a Comment