De Blasio says boyfriend of wife's aide 'shouldn't have' dropped names in court
Rachel Noerdlinger, a former aide for Al Sharpton and chief of staff to New York City's first lady Chirlane McCray, attends a meeting at Sharpton's National Action Network headquarters in Manhattan on Jan. 18, 2014. Credit: AP / Richard Drew
Mayor Bill de Blasio said Monday the boyfriend of a top administration aide "shouldn't have" invoked the first lady's name during court hearings to challenge $500 he had racked up in parking tickets.
De Blasio has fiercely defended the embattled aide, Rachel Noerdlinger, who is chief of staff to his wife, and the mayor has shied away from criticizing her live-in boyfriend, Hassaun McFarlan.
McFarlan has a lengthy criminal history, including a conviction and prison time for fatally shooting a man in 1993. He more recently used social media to disparage police.
He also faced parking violations while using Noerdlinger's Mercedes-Benz, and, according to recordings of court hearings released last week, name-checked his girlfriend and her boss.
"She's the chief of staff to the first lady, Chirlane McCray," he told a judge in July. "I'm basically the driver."
De Blasio Monday tried to remind reporters at an unrelated event in Queens that he considers the Noerdlinger case closed, saying, "This is a guy who does not work for us, and I'm just not going to speak to what a boyfriend does. I've said that before."
But told that McFarlan is a representative of someone who works for the city, de Blasio said: "No, he's not. He's on his own time, and he shouldn't have done that. And that's all I have to say about that."
Noerdlinger denounced anti-police rhetoric after reports that McFarlan had described law enforcement officials as "pigs" in a Facebook post.
She failed to disclose in a background check that she and McFarlan live together in New Jersey, but city officials determined she had not intended to deceive them.
Out East with Doug Geed: Wine harvests, a fish market, baked treats and poinsettias NewsdayTV's Doug Geed visits two wineries and a fish market, and then it's time for holiday cheer, with a visit to a bakery and poinsettia greenhouses.
Out East with Doug Geed: Wine harvests, a fish market, baked treats and poinsettias NewsdayTV's Doug Geed visits two wineries and a fish market, and then it's time for holiday cheer, with a visit to a bakery and poinsettia greenhouses.
