The former New York City mayor Bill de Blasio, who is now running for the Democratic primary for the 10th District House seat, accuses MSNBC of offering rival Dan Goldman free air time and unfair advantage. Goldman, the chief Democratic lawyer, has been a paid legal analyst at the cable news channel.
During a recent remote appearance discussing the congressional hearings on the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, the attorney had “Dan Goldman for Congress” posters behind him; de Blasio complained to Rashida Jones, the president of MSNBC.
“Mr. Goldman is officially a candidate for Congress in the newly created 10th Congressional District in New York City. And as a declared candidate for this seat, he has appeared on MSNBC at least four times, sometimes with advertisements for his campaign in the background shot of these media hits,” de Blasio told MSNBC brass in the letter, per The Post.
“While I deeply respect the expertise of Mr. Goldman, these appearances … are not meant to serve as free advertising for his Congressional campaign. These appearances provide him with an unfair competitive advantage against the 14 other candidates in the race and could even be construed as an in-kind donation to Mr. Goldman’s campaign.”
De Blasio stated that when two other MSNBC legal analysts who ran for office, Maya Wiley for mayor last year and Mimi Rocah for Westchester District Attorney, “rightly removed themselves” from appearing on the air while campaigning.”
A spokesperson for MSNBC declined to comment but stated that Goldman’s position as a legal analyst with the network concluded before he declared his bid for Congress.
Eduardo Razo is the Assistant Content Editor for BNM, which includes writing daily news stories on the news media industry. He can be found on Twitter @eddierazo_ or you can reach him by email at eddie1991razo@gmail.com.
