Sunday, September 4, 2011

Mayor Bloomberg: I'm not sorry for hiding arrest behind Stephen Goldsmith's leaving office

Sunday, September 4th 2011, 10:40 AM

Mayor Bloomberg, seen here with Stephen Goldsmith in 2010, says he's not sorry for keeping real reason deputy mayor left office a secret.
Jefferson Siegel for News
Mayor Bloomberg, seen here with Stephen Goldsmith in 2010, says he's not sorry for keeping real reason deputy mayor left office a secret.

A defiant Mayor Bloomberg said Sunday he's not sorry he didn't reveal the arrest that led to Deputy Mayor Stephen Goldsmith's sudden resignation.

"I make no apologies for either the fact that Mr. Goldsmith has left city service or or treating the Goldsmith family with basic decency as he left," Bloomberg said, speaking about the scandal for the first time.

Hizzoner acknowledged he always knew the truth would come out about his top deputy's domestic violence arrest. But it didn't keep him from maintaining a self-imposed seclusion since the news broke.

The usually available Bloomberg canceled a Hurricane Irene-related press conference on Thursday and then his regular Friday radio show. But Sunday he finally addressed the issue.

"Upon learning of Mr. Goldsmith's arrest I made two decisions, the first was that given the high standards we set for government and the serious circumstances surrounding his arrest, Mr. Goldsmith could no longer continue to work at City Hall," Bloomberg said outside a church service in Brooklyn.

"The second was that I did not believe it was right for our administration to put out a story about an incident that had potential to be even more suffering to the Goldsmith family."

Even so, the Mayor said he still believes Goldsmith would still be deputy mayor if it wasn't for the arrest.

Goldsmith left his post after his current wife Margaret, 59, called 911 from their Washington townhouse after a nasty argument late Saturday July 30.

His wife told cops Goldsmith smashed her phone and grabbed her when she threatened to call police, refusing to let go until she dug her nails into his arm.

She declined to press charges when the cops arrived, but Goldsmith, 64, the former Mayor of Indianapolis, was taken into custody because Washington law mandates an arrest in domestic abuse calls. Later she got prosecutors to drop the case.

rblau@nydailynews.com

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