By Jim Scott
DNAinfo Senior Editor
MANHATTAN — Former Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau's time in the private sector didn't last long.
Morgenthau was appointed Wednesday by a federal judge as a special master to oversee the city's implementation of minority hiring reforms in the fire department, the New York Times reported Wednesday.
The appointment of Morgenthau by Judge Nicholas G. Garaufis signals a bold move to shake up the Bloomberg administration, which the judge believes is taking too long to implement changes.
“For whatever reason — inertia, resource-allocation, or calculated strategy — the city has been dragging its feet throughout the remedial phase,” according to the ruling from the judge.
The Justice Department originally sued the FDNY in 2007 on behalf of an organization of black firefighters called the Vulcan Society. An investigation of the FDNY's hiring practices found blacks and Hispanics accounted for less than 10 percent of the city’s firemen last year.
Morgenthau, 90, had several disagreements with Mayor Michael Bloomberg during the final months of his tenure as district attorney, before his retirement in December after 35 years on the job. Now, the Bloomberg administration must report to Morgenthau who will oversee the changes the mayor has opposed.
Bloomberg has been fighting the ruling because he believes there are better ways to make the FDNY more diverse.
"This is a lengthy order in a very complex case, and we're reviewing it now," a spokeswoman for the city's Law Department said in a statement.
Judge Garaufis, who sits at the United States District Court in Brooklyn, appears to have lost his patience with the matter and wants to see action from the city.
“The city does not appear to understand that it already lost this case, and that its obligation now is not to fight tooth and nail against the possibility of change, but to move with alacrity to cure its illegal practices," the judge wrote. "Put bluntly, the constitutional rights of thousands of its citizens are at stake.”
Morgenthau will work on the case pro bono, with the city only paying for expenses and disbursements, the Times reported. Morgenthau will be required to report to the court every 90 days.
