By: JNS
Randy Mastro, a former first deputy New York City mayor in the administration of Eric Adams, and veteran investigative journalist Richard Behar are suing Mayor Zohran Mamdani for what they say is his administration’s failure to turn over records related to his rollback on his first day on the job of several of his predecessor’s executive orders on Jew-hatred and Israel.
The lawsuit, which Richard Behar filed in New York State Supreme Court, alleges that Mamdani’s office is guilty of a “pattern of obstruction” in its response to multiple Freedom of Information Law requests that Behar has submitted since Mamdani took office on Jan 1.
Mastro is serving as counsel to Behar. FOIL is New York’s version of the Freedom of Information Act.
“It was done on the first day of the Mamdani administration, so there couldn’t have been that many documents relating to that decision,” Mastro, who served as deputy mayor under Rudy Giuliani, told JNS. “Yet he has gotten stonewalled.”
Behar “was not given any date for production, and then he was told they won’t produce responsive documents, if at all, until November,” Mastro said.
Under New York law, members of the public, including journalists, have the right to request records relating to government decisions, and agencies are required to respond—or provide reason for denial—in a timely manner.
The mayor’s delay in responding to the requests was “arbitrary, capricious and irrational in multiple egregious respects,” Behar alleges.
“The city’s prolonged delays, without any substantive justification, demonstrate a pattern of obstruction that is inconsistent with the purposes and mandates of FOIL,” the petition states.
Behar’s two requests, which he filed on Jan. 13 and May 8, sought records related to Mamdani’s decision to rescind several of his predecessor’s executive orders, including those adopting the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of Jew-hatred and barring city agencies from boycotting Israel.
Behar, a former Forbes, Time and Fortune staff member and, since 2012, contributing editor of investigations at Forbes, told JNS that he is seeking records explaining the rationale behind Mamdani’s actions, including inter-office communications, research, studies and public-impact analyses.
He also requested records containing terms including “antisemitism,” “IHRA,” “Jews,” “Jewish,” “Israel,” “boycott” and “BDS,” he said.
“Investigative reporters aren’t a nuisance to blow off. We’re the reason those in power can’t rule from the shadows,” he told JNS. “When doors close, or records get slow-walked, that’s not bureaucracy. It’s a decision to keep the public in the dark.”
“Fortunately, I have one of the best and toughest attorneys in the country to knock that door open,” he said.
Mastro said that his firm agreed to represent Behar on a pro bono basis after the mayor’s office informed him that it would not respond to the first request until late August and to the second until Nov. 9, 2026.
“That’s not a timely response,” Mastro told JNS.
