Sources close to the New York Fire Department told the New York Post on Monday that Commissioner Laura Kavanagh was "pushed out" because she alienated the rank-and-file.

The Post's recent reports that Kavanaugh apologized over text for failing to "fix" sexists in the department were apparently the straw that broke the camel's back as far as her tenure with the department.

She resigned after being told over the weekend that she was being moved to a different job in Mayor Eric Adams' administration.

Kavanagh, the first woman commissioner of the department, will not depart the position immediately, but will remain until Adams can appoint a new commissioner.

Will she stay?

Adams has indicated that he wants Kavanagh to stay in the administration, but she may be looking at a job outside city government.

“What she does next is a question for the commissioner,” said Fabien Levy, deputy mayor for communications. “Like the mayor’s statement makes clear, she is a trusted member of the administration.”

The two men Adams is reportedly considering as replacements are security firm CEO Robert S. Tucker and the department's DEI chief Kwame Cooper.

Adams hopes to resolve the grievances of older department members against Kavanagh. She is the target of a discrimination lawsuit that claims she replaced older, more experienced chiefs with younger, relatively inexperienced ones.

“Kavanagh disrespected and victimized some of the most decorated heroes serving the FDNY," Jim Walden, attorney for the chiefs suing Kavanagh, said. "The city can now settle the claims in our lawsuit, or subject Kavanagh to a bruising deposition: Either way our clients will get justice.”

Other controversies

Other controversies Kavanagh faced include rising response times for the department and accusations that she limited political expression.

Notably, she said she was going to "go after" members of the FDNY who booed Attorney General Letitia James at a parade because of her actions to go after former President Donald Trump.

Queens City Council's fire committee chair Joann Ariola (R) posted on X, “If there was one thing that needed to be fixed in the @FDNY, it was her, and I am glad that the administration has come to this decision before she was able to do any more damage to the men and women of New York’s Bravest."

With many of the city's Bravest falling on the conservative side of the political aisle, Kavanagh just did not fit in.

Letting her politics interfere with doing her job was a huge mistake, and she has now paid the price.