Civil Rights lawyer Maya D. Wiley is leaving her role as a contributor on MSNBC and NBC News to consider a run for mayor of New York City.
The New York Times first reported the story.
Wiley previously served as a top counsel for current NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio and on the NYPD oversight agency. If successful, Wiley would become the first Black woman to be mayor of the Big Apple.
At this time, CNN President Jeff Zucker and billionaire businessman and radio talk show host John Catsimatidis are names being floated around as potential candidates for the position.
De Blasio is term-limited and cannot run next year.
During a 2016 interview with POLITICO, Wiley referred to herself as a racial and gender justice advocate.
“When the opportunity came up to do social justice work for the New School in an academic setting, and still be able to support the mayor and be part of the de Blasio family, it was kind of a no-brainer for me,” Wiley said at the time. “From my perspective, it really was the best of both worlds.”
Back then, Wiley had just been tapped to take over the Civilian Complaint Review Board — the United States’ largest independent oversight agency of the largest police force in the country. The move slammed by the Police Benevolent Association.
Wiley was unfazed by any criticisms.
“I look forward to demonstrating the greatest integrity of fairness and independence that any arm of the city should have and does have. I will continue to support that neutral justice. We take cases one by one. We review them one by one,” she said. “Where we think there are legitimate issues raised about the functioning of CCRB and the fairness of the process, I will take that very seriously, no matter who brings that to me.”
