On the one hand!
Maya Wiley attempted to bat away criticism over failed promises to deliver broadband Internet access to public housing developments, all while tryingꦯ to take credit for a major legal settlement negotiated in 2020.
Wiley — a leading candidate in the Democratic mayoral primary — offered the eyebrow-raising defense to aspects of a Post investigation during Tuesday night’s televised debate, where she faced off against the seven other contenders in the June 22 election.
“I left city government five years ago, very grateful to have had the opportunity,” Wiley said as she opened her defense during the second hour of the forum, which was sponsored by WNBC-TV/Ch. 4, Telemundo and Politico New York. “When I walked in the door, the mayor said ‘universal broadband, that’s yours’. I said, ‘great’, this is something that no city in this country has ever done.”
“I got the opportunity: one, to sue Verizon because it failed to FiOS — fast-speed broadband to all of our communities,” Wiley continued. “There was a positive settlement in that.”
Wiley did not mention that the settlement was finalized in November 2020 — more than four years after she left City Hall.
In the next breathe, Wiley again attempted to claim credit for rolling out free broadband access to the residents at NYCHA’s Queensbridge Houses.
She did note that the de Blasio administration’s promises to install it at an additional four public housing complexes went unfulfilled.
A competitor, former financier Ray McGuire, j𝓰umped in to point out the broken promise, prompting Wiley to claim it was not herꦑ fault because she left.
“And I wasn’t in the administration,” Wiley shot back. “Not under my watch, Ray; that is a falsehood, it has to be called out.”