New York Daily News, June 18, 1997


Animal rights protesters jeer Giuliani

by Bob Liff
Daily News Staff Writer

Heckling animal rights activists dubbed Mayor Giuliani "Rudy Crueliani" yesterday as he waded through a demonstration outside City Hall.

The protest was prompted by the city's decision to dump two members of the board that oversees the city's animal shelters.

The fired board members, Louise Murray and Rosemary Joyce, had complained to a City Council committee that Deputy Mayor Randy Mastro had a stranglehold over the Center for Animal Care and Control.

Police blocking the activists from reaching City Hall forced Giuliani to get out of his arriving car.

"Why don't you listen?" shouted Jane Colton, who was among a group of volunteers barred last winter from the CACC for complaining about its high rate of killing stray pets and low rate of adoptions.

Murray, the board's only veterinarian, charged Mastro blocked the hiring of a new executive director who had unanimous board approval.

Councilwoman Kathryn Freed (D-Manhattan) said the firings have had a "chilling effect" on legislators' ability to monitor city agencies.

She said she will ask state Attorney General Dennis Vacco to probe whether CACC bylaws -- which allowed Mastro to fire members without cause -- violate laws governing nonprofit corporations.

The CACC board has three city commissioners and four outsiders named by the mayor.

Giuliani grew testy earlier in the day when reporters peppered him with questions about the city-financed agency, which was set up in 1994 after the ASPCA gave up its city contract.

"To spend a great deal of time on this distorts what's important to the people of the city," Giuliani said.

He said "stalling" by the ousted members blocked the naming of a new director.

Mastro called Murray and Joyce obstructionists. He said they refused his offer to assign a city manager to run the CACC until a permanent director is named.

Mastro called the pair's testimony "the straw that broke the camel's back," but denied it prompted the firings.

A CACC source said the search for a new director has narrowed to two experienced managers, and a temporary director would not be needed.

Arlene Pedone of Queens and Daniel Ricciardi of Brooklyn were named to replace Murray and Joyce by Mastro. But the deputy mayor said he knew little about them.

Pedone is a Democratic district leader from Richmond Hill, Queens.

A resume provided by mayoral aides identified Ricciardi as a doctor specializing in arthritis and rheumatology, and president of the Congress of Italian American Organizations.