The administration of New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio has been rocked by scandal, resulting in the chief of staff to the mayor’s wife being placed on unpaid leave following a series of personal revelations.
Rachel Noerdlinger, who works for First Lady Chirlane McCray, will not collect her $170,000 a year salary or medical benefits, New York’s
Daily News reported citing de Blasio’s office.
Noerdlinger said she was taking an indefinite leave of absence to spend time with her 17-year-old son Khari, who was busted for trespassing last week at an infamous drug spot in Washington Heights.
On Monday, The New York Post revealed that Khari has had a series of run-ins with police dating back to 2011, when he was arrested at age 14 in a mugging case.
“I can handle criticism and scrutiny of me, even when it’s mean-spirited — that comes with the territory when you take on the status quo,” said Noerdlinger, who was previously the spokeswoman for Rev. Al Sharpton.
“But increasingly, my son has been subjected to attacks that have nothing to do with the public interest, and everything to do with derailing this administration. I do not want to be a distraction — the work at hand is far too urgent.”
It had previously been revealed that Noerdlinger had lied about her son’s football injuries so they could live in New Jersey with Hassaun McFarlan, a convicted killer and drug pusher. New York City officials must live in the city’s five boroughs.
Noerdlinger had failed to reveal her relationship with McFarlan for a background check before being appointed as McCray's aide, resulting in a probe by the city Department of Investigation. Her relationship with McFarlan also led to police criticism about her attendance at high-level NYPD talks, the Daily News reported.
It had also recently been revealed that McFarlan had called cops “pigs” in online rants and referred to whites as “crackers,” while also making graphic comments about sex and women.
In 2009, Noerdlinger fell behind in paying $28,190 in taxes, and is now paying the arrears off on a monthly basis, according to the Daily News. And in 2011, McFarlan was driving Noerdlinger's Mercedes, with her as a passenger, when he was stopped for steering into oncoming traffic in New Jersey.
Mayor de Blasio went on the attack against the media for delving into Noerdlinger’s personal life, saying, “It’s repulsive, but it’s become quite common.”
He added. “If someone wants to smear people, and use that for political purposes, there’s a pretty easy playbook for doing it.”
According to the Post, the mayor even suggested that a strategy similar to McCarthyism was being employed, adding, “We’ve seen this — we saw this in the 1950s, we’ve seen this throughout the history of this country.”