Jasmine Ray, a former romantic partner of ex-New York Mayor Eric Adams, is suing incumbent Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s administration over the loss of her Brooklyn daycare center’s government contract.
Ray filed the lawsuit in Manhattan Supreme Court in July, challenging the New York City Department of Education’s decision not to renew Cornerstone Day Care Center’s $933,000 annual contract, which expired June 30.
Ray claims the contract was terminated in retaliation for a March blog post in which she criticized Mamdani’s push to expand the city’s free 2-K and 3-K programs, arguing that the Education Department was not structurally equipped to manage the expansion.
“Here is the reality that city government does not want to acknowledge: the New York City Department of Education is not structurally positioned to continue expanding early childhood education, yet it is doing exactly that,” Ray wrote.
She also criticized the city for failing to adequately recognize community-based providers, which operate many of the city’s early childhood programs.
But the Education Department has disputed Ray’s characterization of its contract decision.
According to the city’s filings, officials informed Ray in May that Cornerstone’s contract would not be renewed after the department identified concerns involving the center’s finances and Ray’s employment arrangement.
The city cited unpaid rent and potentially unreasonable expenses, including an $80,000 consulting fee paid to Ray while she was also working as a $160,000-per-year official in the Adams administration, in a March letter.
Ray had received a waiver from the city’s Conflicts of Interest Board under Adams, which allowed her to hold both positions. The Education Department has argued, however, that she violated the waiver’s terms.
The waiver limited Ray’s work at Cornerstone to 10 hours per week and required her to relinquish the title of executive director. The Education Department said Ray continued to use the title of executive director while the day care’s financial records showed that her compensation increased.
Ray has denied that the contract was properly terminated and argues she was singled out because of her association with Adams, who has criticized Mamdani since leaving office.
“It is targeting because of my association with Eric Adams,” Ray told the New York Times. “A lot of people can’t stand him, but I’m a supporter of his because I’m a long-term friend of his.”
Ray worked at Cornerstone beginning in 2017 and was appointed by Adams in 2022 to serve as New York City’s first director of the Mayor’s Office of Sports, Wellness, and Recreation. Near the end of Adams’ administration, she wrote favorably about the outgoing mayor and disclosed their past relationship in a self-published memoir.
Cornerstone was among more than 1,100 community-based organizations that partnered with the Education Department to operate the city’s early childhood programs. The center received a five-year, $4.7 million contract from the department in 2021, before Adams took office, and currently serves 24 children through its 3-K and pre-K programs.
HOW MS. RACHEL WENT FROM BELOVED CHILDREN’S STREAMING SENSATION TO ‘MOUTHPIECE FOR HAMAS’
Ray has also faced a separate dispute with the church that houses the daycare. The church has sued Cornerstone three times over allegations of unpaid rent totaling more than $100,000.
The Mamdani administration has sought to have the lawsuit dismissed on procedural grounds, arguing that Ray did not properly serve the defendants. City lawyers have also argued that the administration did not terminate Cornerstone’s contract, but allowed it to expire, and that the Education Department never committed to extending the agreement beyond June 30.
Continue reading...
[ H/T Washington Examiner ]
