Charles Oakley wants Deputy Mayor Randy Mastro off MSG ejection case, claims conflict of interest

Knicks legend Charles Oakley wants First Deputy Mayor Randy Mastro bounced from his legal spat over his infamous 2017 ejection from Madison Square Garden – claiming the lawyer’s bid to stay on the case is a “conflict of interest.”The veteran litigator would be breaching Big Apple ethics rules by continuing to rep the arena, which receives lucrative city tax breaks, while serving as a top honcho in the mayor’s office, Oakley’s lawyer alleges.“Courts have consistently doubted that any public servant – let alone a high-ranking official – can simultaneously serve the public while running a private law practice,” reads a letter filed Wednesday in Manhattan federal court.Mastro has withdrawn in recent days from matters relevant to the city, like his work on New Jersey’s bid to kill New York’s congestion pricing plan, court records show.But the attorney, who has represented the arena and its billionaire chairman James Dolan in various matters for two decades, is still helping his long-time clients defend Oakley’s suit.Mastro has agreed to rep the Midtown arena for free, will appear in court in his personal capacity and not as a representative of the city, and has vowed to recuse himself from MSG-related matters while serving as first deputy mayor, a City Hall spokesperson said.The city’s independent ethics board approved the unusual setup, according to the mayor’s office, after Mastro said that he has very little work left on the case – a claim that Oakley’s lawyer contests – and that he’d request further advice if that situation changed.But Mastro has not been granted a “waiver” that city employees are required to obtain before moonlighting in private jobs, Oakley attorney Valdi Licul wrote to the court on Wednesday.The mayor’s office maintains that the board found that, for now, no waiver was needed.“New York City’s independent Conflicts of Interest Board evaluated the circumstances of First Deputy Mayor Mastro’s limited ...