NEW YORK — Mayor Zohran Mamdani is struggling to muster support for a key appointment whose fate hinges on the New York City Council — another twist in the growing tension between the mayor and the body of lawmakers seeking to curb his power.
Mamdani’s team has been working behind the scenes to set up one-on-one meetings between council members and Nadia Shihata, his pick to lead the investigations department, said four people with knowledge of the outreach who granted anonymity to discuss the private conversations.
The meetings are expected to address MPs’ concerns about his past political support for the mayor.
The administration’s proposals — which come just days before lawmakers are scheduled to vote on the nomination next week — indicated to at least one council member that the mayor and his staff are concerned about the path to Shihata’s confirmation for the DOI commissioner position.
“Otherwise they don’t call,” said Council Member Gail Brewer, who was among at least four lawmakers who received an offer to meet with Shihata.
The sudden hurdle of Shihata’s nomination falls into Mamdani’s lap amid a broader and rapidly escalating budget dispute between Mamdani and Council Speaker Julie Menin, as the mayor grapples with a $5.4 billion funding gap with few palatable options to close it. The tug of war over Shihata comes even as the investigative division investigates allegations that a city employee was unlawfully fired for reporting a romantic relationship between a high-ranking Mamdani appointee and his subordinate, which was first investigated by POLITICO.
The DOI Commissioner plays a key role in the investigation of city government by conducting audits and pursuing corruption cases against city employees suspected of corruption – the latter kept the office particularly busy during the tenure of former Mayor Eric Adams.
In February, Mamdani nominated Shihata, a former federal prosecutor whose experience as U.S. Attorney for the Public Integrity Section of the Eastern District of New York made him a logical selection for the job. However, the Mamdani team’s lobbying followed Shihata’s appearance at Monday’s confirmation hearing, where council members grilled him about his independence from the administration.
Shihata donated $700 to Mamdani’s 2025 mayoral bid and spent a day promoting his campaign. Additionally, she has maintained a friendship with the mayor’s top legal aide, Ramzi Kassem, for more than two decades – and applied for the job after Kassem asked if she was interested.
Because the investigations department is tasked with rooting out corruption in city government, including the mayor’s office, council members questioned Shihata whether as commissioner of the agency she could maintain independence from Mamdani, given his political involvement and ties to one of his top aides.
Shihata pushed back, saying that he and Kassem are not close friends – and that her long experience in law enforcement has shown her to pursue cases regardless of the subject of a particular investigation.
“I have scrutinized people I have supported in the past,” he said at Monday’s hearing. “This has not affected my ability to investigate them and reach conclusions based on evidence as a rule of law.”
The council is expected to vote on Shihata’s nomination on Thursday, giving Mamdani’s team a chance to drum up support for him. It is unclear how widespread the opposition is to Shihata’s nomination and whether it could seriously jeopardize his confirmation.
But overall, it is an unusual dynamic.
The Commissioner of the Investigations Department is one of the few top officials in the city government whose appointment requires council approval. Typically, a DOI nominee passes through the confirmation process with little opposition.
The fight over Shihata’s confirmation is taking place against the broader backdrop of deteriorating relations between Mamdani and Menin. Earlier this week, the mayor accused the Council Speaker of misleading New Yorkers by arguing that his preferred tax increase is not necessary to address the billion-dollar budget deficit this year. Mamdani also released a social media video in which he called out Menin for being “unrealistic”, a move that upset members of the body, including Linda Lee, chair of the council’s finance committee, who called his jab “inappropriate”.
Menin, in turn, is highlighting Mamdani’s threat to raise property taxes, which would impact middle-class homeowners across the city, including politically powerful black communities in Brooklyn and Queens.
All this makes the DOI confirmation process yet another headache that Mamdani faces at a time when he is struggling to address a budget gap that has posed a major hurdle to his expensive policy agenda.
The investigative department has gone without a permanent chief since its former commissioner Jocelyn Strauber resigned in mid-January after it became known that Mamdani was considering replacing her.
Brewer, who said he had not yet made up his mind about whether to meet with Shihata or support his nomination, told POLITICO he was disappointed that Mamdani did not retain Strober — although it is common for mayors to nominate their choice for the job.
“She’s the only one who should get this job,” said Brewer, a member of the council’s Progressive Caucus who previously served as chair of the committee with jurisdiction over DOI. “It’s a really important job, with all due respect to other jobs.”
A spokesperson for Mamdani declined to comment on the backlash against Shihata’s nomination and referred Politico to the mayor’s comments about Shihata and “confidence in his integrity, his independence and, frankly, his track record, where he has worked for years to hold accountable those who have violated the law.”
In addition to Brewer, Council members Oswald Feliz, Kamilla Hanks and Lynn Shulman were among the lawmakers who were contacted by Mamdani’s staff about meeting with Shihata, according to two people with direct knowledge of the solicitation. Feliz and Shulman declined to comment Friday, while Hanks confirmed she plans to meet with the nominee in the coming days.
“Everyone deserves to be heard,” Hanks said.
In a potentially worrisome sign for Mamdani’s team, Council Member Tiffany Caban, a fellow Democratic Socialist, said in a private conference meeting after Monday’s hearing that she understands why there is concern about Shihata’s nomination, said two people with knowledge of her comments who granted anonymity to discuss the closed-door session. Former public defender Caban said during the conference that she would ultimately vote to confirm Shihata, however, she told colleagues she believed he had the qualifications for the job. Caban declined to comment for this article.
Council Member Elsie Encarnación, a Progressive Caucus member, also expressed concerns about Shihata’s nomination during the conference meeting, according to a person with knowledge of her comments.
Encarnación could not immediately be reached for comment. A spokesperson for Menin did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
One council member, who was granted anonymity to speak candidly about Mamdani’s strategy, said it is not unusual for the mayor to set up meetings between nominees and council members. However, the member noted that such meetings typically occur before confirmation hearings, not after, and suggested that the timing indicated that Mamdani’s team was nervous about the setback.
“It is strange to do this after the hearing,” the member said.
