Adams Gives GOP 3, 2 PEP Majority with Borelli Pick Before Mamdani Shift

New York City Mayor Eric Adams has appointed former City Council Republican leader Joe Borelli to the city’s public school oversight panel, continuing a wave of late term board appointments before Mayor elect Zohran Mamdani takes office.

The move places Borelli on the city’s Panel for Educational Policy, expanding a series of last minute appointments by Adams across housing, policing and now education. Critics and supporters alike have described the appointments as an effort to limit Mamdani’s ability to advance his democratic socialist agenda once sworn in.

Borelli rejected that characterization, saying his appointment was not designed to obstruct the incoming administration.

“If I wanted to stir things up, I would have asked to be on the Rent Guidelines Board,” Borelli told the Daily News. “I just want to serve the public.”

Adams Gives GOP 3, 2 PEP

The mayor is also moving to fill vacancies on the Rent Guidelines Board, which votes annually on rent increases for stabilized apartments. Those appointments could be finalized as early as this week, according to sources, potentially complicating Mamdani’s campaign pledge to freeze rents for stabilized tenants.

In addition, Adams recently appointed two figures viewed as more sympathetic to law enforcement to the city’s police watchdog, the Civilian Complaint Review Board. Interim chair Pat Smith, a former journalist, and board member Kevin McGinn, a former police officer, were named earlier this month.

As a member of the Panel for Educational Policy, often referred to as the PEP, Borelli will also serve as a trustee of the Board of Education Retirement System, the pension fund for city school employees. Adams has also appointed Borelli to the United Nations Development Corp, which provides office space and facilities for the UN community in New York.

Borelli said the appointments were the result of conversations held months ago with Adams and First Deputy Mayor Randy Mastro about remaining in public service after leaving the City Council.

“When I left office, I asked to be appointed to unpaid boards where I could continue public service,” Borelli said. “The mayor and Randy knew I had been supportive of them. The mayor offered the UNDC, the PEP and BERS, and I accepted all three.”

According to a letter confirming the appointment, Borelli is expected to serve on the PEP through June. Any continuation beyond that point would require reappointment by Mamdani.

Adams defended the timing of the appointments during a media briefing on Monday, saying he retains full authority until his final day in office on December 31.

Read More: Zohran Mamdani to be sworn in as New York’s 111th mayor

“I’m mayor until the 31st,” Adams said, according to a recording obtained by the Daily News. “These decisions are within my span of control.”

He added that filling the Rent Guidelines Board was necessary to ensure rent decisions are based on law and economic conditions.

City Hall said Borelli was vetted by the Department of Investigation and the Office of Appointments and approved by the Conflicts of Interest Board.

“The PEP is a demanding role without pay,” said Adams spokesperson Zachary Nosanchuk. “It takes time to find experienced and thoughtful individuals willing to serve.”

Representatives for Mamdani, who will be sworn in as mayor on January 1, did not respond to requests for comment.

The Panel for Educational Policy votes on systemwide school policies, budgets and major contracts. While mayoral appointees typically vote in line with City Hall, legislative changes and unfilled seats in recent years have made the panel more independent. The PEP recently asserted itself by pushing for changes to long standing yellow bus contracts.

Following that dispute, Mastro told Bloomberg last month that Adams was considering reshaping the panel ahead of the Mamdani administration. The seat now filled by Borelli was one of three vacancies the mayor had left open in recent months.

Borelli resigned from the City Council in January to join Chartwell Strategy Group, leaving office about a year before term limits would have required his departure. He does not appear to have children currently enrolled in city public schools and has previously said he moved his own children to Catholic schools during the pandemic.

Borelli, whose wife is a public school teacher on Staten Island, said he will continue working as a lobbyist and acknowledged he may need to recuse himself from certain votes if they involve his clients.