The Problem With The Way You Cast Yourself

The problem when you cast yourself as a scold, er, worldwide environmental leader, is that you open yourself up to charges of hypocrisy:

In just the past week, the city-owned SUVS that hustle hizzoner around the city were timed idling from 10 minutes to more than an hour eight times, The Associated Press reported.

Bloomberg strengthened the city’s anti-idling law earlier this year, allowing just three minutes of idling. Environmentalists praised the law as the nation’s toughest. But the Mayor’s SUVs are exempt from the law because they are considered emergency vehicles.

“We’re doing our best,” to reduce idling, Bloomberg spokesman Stu Loeser insisted, noting the SUV’s are supposed to park in the shade so engines don’t have to run the air conditioning.

Most of the vehicles were clocked in mild temperatures last week and were parked in the shade — but the engines were still on.