Quantcast

Ex-Deputy Mayor: I Resigned Because Of Domestic Violence Arrest, Not My Crappy Blizzard Response

201108_goldsmith.jpg
Mayor Bloomberg and former Deputy Mayor Stephen Goldsmith at his first day on the job back in April 2010 (nycmayorsoffice's flickr)

Hey, remember former Deputy Mayor Stephen Goldsmith? You know, the deputy mayor of operations who was welcomed with excitement (he was a former mayor of Indianapolis), sucked during Blizzageddon response and stepped down at the beginning of August? Well, now it turns out that Goldsmith may have been pushed out of his job not because of being a terrible city manager—the Post says he resigned because he was arrested by D.C. police during a fight with his wife in July. Okay, that's what his wife says—"It would become a huge distraction to Bloomberg, and Stephen would never allow that to happen. He wasn't planning to resign when he resigned."

An argument apparently broke out in the posh townhouse Goldsmith and his wife Margaret, a newspaper heiress, own. According to the Post, "Goldsmith was arrested at his Georgetown home after his wife, Margaret, told cops he smashed a phone and grabbed her as she desperately tried to call cops, a Washington, DC, police report reveals."

The shocking report describes in dramatic detail how a "verbal altercation" between the former Indianapolis mayor, 64, and his wife in their ritzy house turned ugly at around 11:30 p.m. July 30.

"I should have put a bullet through you years ago!" Margaret, 59, allegedly told Goldsmith, the report revealed.

Stephen Goldsmith then "shoved [Margaret into] the kitchen counter," according to the report.

"You're not going to do this to me again, I'm calling the police," Margaret responded, the report said.

Goldsmith "then grabbed the phone from her hands and threw it onto the ground, breaking the phone. He then grabbed [Margaret] and refused to let her go."
"She kept screaming, 'Let me go, let me go,' " as Stephen refused to let her out of his grasp, according to the report.

"She dug her nails into [Stephen's] forearms," causing him to release Margaret, who then "ran to the other room to call police."

Goldsmith was arrested for simple assault domestic violence and spent two days in jail, but Margaret Goldsmith decided not to press charges. She tells the Post that her husband was never violent, explaining, "There was no domestic violence that occurred between my husband and myself. Nor has there ever been in the history of the marriage... [The arrest] was a big mistake. I can only tell you it was an enormous misunderstanding. It just got out of control."

Goldsmith himself said, "Because, according to the officers, DC law required an arrest, one was made over the objection of my wife, and no charges were ever filed.... Although Margaret, under oath, has affirmed the absence of violence and my actual innocence, I offered my resignation in order not to be a distraction to the mayor and his important agenda for the city." Mayor Bloomberg's office declined to comment.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

Comments [rss]

  • LICnative

    This rocket scientist was hired by the billionaire mayor to break the back of municipal unions and "civilianize" the work force. That's simply billionaire speak for farming out municipal services to politically connected contractors who can rationalize paying coolie wages for dangerous, unhealthy work. The rich get richer while the working classes fight each other for the few crumbs left.

    This guy failed as a mayor of a mid sized, mid America city. He failed as the Mayor's right hand hatchet man. Where does a failure go after he's exposed? Right to academia, where he can influence the next generation of dreamy undergraduates with tales of his visionary struggles.

  • The dark side of a Harvard prof.: http://waterindustry.org/india...

  • Like NYT columnist Tom Friedman, Goldsmith is married to an heiress. Both live in D.C. Goldsmith is still a professor at Harvard's Kennedy school -- what an outfit!!  Don't know if still a paid board member of various corporations.  He is also an investor in the school privatization movement. He is listed as the author of various books on privatization (wonder if he paid someone to write them -- with his wife's money).

  • His advocacy of privatization and union busting landed him a job at Harvard' uber-right-wing Kennedy "School of Government". Oh, and he was an advisor to President Bush on "faith-based initiatives". 

  • felixthecat

    Beat blizzard not wife.

  • jamieob256

    Bloomberg looks like he just got goosed.

  • Guest

    "excuse me Deputy Mayor, is that your hand on my tushie?"

    "i guess it is, Mr. Mayor."

    "good. you'll fit in just fine around here."

  • Rocknrope

    You know Bloomberg hired him only because he's an Eagle Scout, like Mike.

  • randomtransplant

    Are you sure? Eagle Scouts usually understand soup kitchens better than Mike

  • Violent man. To workers in Indianapolis and NY, to the public and to his family apparently... 

blog comments powered by Disqus

send a tip

tips@gothamist.com