Politics on the Hudson

Mayor-elect Adam Bradley named attorney John G. Callahan on Tuesday as his new chief of staff and the city’s corporation counsel.

“I am coming back home to a city I’ve represented in the past with more energy and enthusiasm than ever before,” said Callahan, who was White Plains’ corporation counsel from 1994 to 1998.

Bradley expects the consolidation of both positions will save White Plains $175,000 in salary and benefit costs. The decision is one of several cost-cutting measures Bradley said he will make in an effort to trim a $13.9 million projected deficit (that Bradley expects will end up being closer to $20 million). The mayor-elect said he aims to save $1 million to $2 million through appointments, looking to consolidate some commissioner positions and not fill some deputy commissioner slots.

Callahan, who has been involved in Bradley’s transition team and was expected to land a job with the new administration, will replace Edward Dunphy as corporation counsel and Paul Wood, who recently died, as executive officer. (Bradley said he decided to change the title for the mayor’s top aide from executive officer to chief of staff.)

“I wouldn’t give the job to just anyone,” Bradley stated in the release. “I know that John will be able to handle the additional responsibility.”

Callahan has spent most of his career in the public sector, representing New Rochelle, Yonkers, Eastchester, and New York state. He became a lawyer in 1976 and ran his own private practice, as well.

He will join David Chong, the city’s next public safety commissioner, in Bradley’s administration. Businesswoman Judy Chriss, a close colleague of Bradley’s, is also expected to join the team.