A visibly annoyed Mayor Eric Adams said Tuesday it was “sexist” to suggest the New York Fire Department’s male-dominated culture had anything to do with the sudden resignation of the department’s first female chief, Laura Cabana.
The mayor bristled at reporters’ questions about whether he gave enough support to Kavanagh, who is stepping down after years of clashing with rank-and-file NYPD officers, and former NYPD Commissioner Keechan Sewell, the first woman to lead each department.
“You can’t say, ‘We didn’t support men’ when they leave,” Adams said at his weekly press conference.
“If a man wants to achieve something in life, no one asks, ‘Oh, didn’t you give him the support he needed? Did you not give him the nurturing he needed?’ But do women need that? No, they don’t.”
Hizzoner’s angry denunciation came after The Washington Post exclusively reported that Kavanagh was forced out of his job after clashing with a male subordinate and apologizing to Attorney General Letitia James for “failing to correct” a sexist man in his department.
Kavanagh, Medium Post published On Tuesday, she said she had struggled for months with the decision to leave the FDNY.
Her post did not give any reasons for her departure other than a busy work schedule and a desire to spend time with family and friends.
“Because of my love for the FDNY and my long-standing commitment to making it better through personal hurdles, the decision to quit has been one I’ve struggled with for months and have not been sure when the right time would be,” she wrote.
Adams and city officials have maintained that Kavanagh can stay on as fire chief for as long as he wants.
Sources have told The Post that Adams wants to keep Kavanagh in the administration, and he appeared to acknowledge that possibility on Tuesday.
“When she’s ready to move on to the next position, she’ll come in and say, ‘Eric, I’m ready to move on to the next position,'” he said. “Whether that’s outside the administration or within the administration, that’s fine with me.”
“The commissioner’s final term has not yet been determined,” an FDNY spokesperson told The Post on Tuesday.
When questioned by reporters about Kavanagh’s impending retirement, the mayor defended his record of promoting women to senior city positions, noting that women have served in five deputy mayoral roles and two of his highest-ranking advisors.
He also claimed that his first police commissioner, Mr. Sewell, now works for the New York Mets and lives a nice, high-paid life.
Sewell abruptly stepped down in 2023 amid conflict with powerful figures in City Hall, including Adams, and was replaced by a man, Edward Cavan.
According to sources, the two people rumored to be potential successors to Kavanagh are men.
At the press conference, Adams also appeared to soften his position that sexism was not a factor in Kavanagh’s resignation.
“These ‘isms’ that have existed for thousands of years will not disappear under my administration,” he said. “I have taken the right stance of not acknowledging the existence of these isms and using my internal mechanisms to correct them.”
