One of the few criticisms of Zohran Mamdani’s run for mayor that actually had merit was that he had little meaningful work experience to run New York City. Now that the former SoundCloud rapper will be running America’s city, there’s some major focus on who he will be picking to help him do the job that needs to be done. He’s off to an interesting start — while one name on his transition team could be a signal for the direction he wants to take New York, she’s also faced some experience questions of her own. Business Insider has coverage:
Former Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan —whose regulatory moves angered many corporate leaders — has been named as one of the co-chairs of Mamdani’s transition team.
“What we saw last night was New Yorkers not just electing a new mayor, but clearly rejecting a politics where outsized corporate power and money too often end up dictating our politics,” Khan said in a speech on Wednesday.
First things first, you gotta love some strong signaling! Khan herself has encouraged young lawyers to direct their minds toward antitrust as a way to fight on the average person’s behalf. On the other hand, Khan has also been taken to task for alleged managerial dysfunction and bringing weak cases while she was at the FTC. That said, the good thing about teamwork is that it allows for team efforts — other big names like Elana Leopold, Melanie Hartzog, Maria Torres-Springer, and Grace Bonilla will be there to balance out the relative strengths and weaknesses of the individual members.
Prior to Mamdani’s win, business leaders, Wall Street financiers, and other people who probably think stealing is a much bigger problem than wage theft tantrum-promised to move out of New York and even close grocery stores if they didn’t get their way. Hey, if a mass exodus of people hoarding NYC real estate is what it takes to get affordable housing, so be it! While I’m betting that most of the threats to leave were just posturing (have you ever tried convincing a New Yorker that there are other inhabitable cities in this country?), Khan’s place on the transition team will be a warning to billionaires that they may have to tighten their Bottega belts once it becomes more affordable for the rabble to make it to work.
Ex-FTC Chair Lina Khan Joins Mamdani’s Transition Team, Calling His Victory A Rebuke Of ‘Outsized Corporate Power’ [Business Insider]
Earlier: The Missed Opportunities Of The Khan FTC Are Glaring
Are We Seeing An Up-And-Coming Antitrust Boom?
Chris Williams became a social media manager and assistant editor for Above the Law in June 2021. Prior to joining the staff, he moonlighted as a minor Memelord™ in the Facebook group Law School Memes for Edgy T14s . He endured Missouri long enough to graduate from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. He is a former boatbuilder who is learning to swim, is interested in critical race theory, philosophy, and humor, and has a love for cycling that occasionally annoys his peers. You can reach him by email at cwilliams@abovethelaw.com and by tweet at @WritesForRent.
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