On The Other Hand, Now We Know Why He Sleeps So Late?

I don’t know which is worse — the mayor calling around past midnight to spring a campaign supporter from the pokey or the idea that the call was all for naught:

A Brooklyn pastor with close ties to Mayor Bill de Blasio was arrested and then released in an unusual turn of events that included a call from the mayor to a top police commander late Monday. But the mayor’s office and the police both said Tuesday that Mr. de Blasio’s call came after a precinct commander had already decided to release the clergyman.

The pastor, Bishop Orlando Findlayter of New Hope Christian Fellowship, was pulled over in Brooklyn around 11 Monday night for not signaling a left turn, the police said. Officers determined he had been driving on a suspended license and arrested him. At the station house in East Flatbush, they learned that Mr. Findlayter had two outstanding warrants stemming from an act of civil disobedience at a political rally last year.

Mr. Findlayter was an early supporter of Mr. de Blasio’s mayoral campaign, and word of his arrest quickly reached the mayor. Around midnight, officials said, Mr. de Blasio called Deputy Chief Kim Y. Royster, commander of the department’s public affairs office, to inquire.

See, Say “Payday”!

And now the mayor can focus on somehow placating the unions who supported him who now will want him to follow through with $7 billion in retroactive pay:

Less than 24 hours after Mr. de Blasio said in his State of the City address that he would request permission from the State Legislature for New York City to set a higher minimum wage, Mr. Cuomo said the minimum wage was a matter better left to the state.

Also, while he still hasn’t appointed several commissioners he’s gearing up for a road trip, which seems about right for a professional campaigner:

Mr. de Blasio stirred the crowd into a chant of “We want a vote! We want a vote!” as he talked about his plans to go to the capital to lobby for the tax increase.

“The gauntlet’s been thrown down in Albany,” the mayor said. “We will respond.”

Respond with what? A press release? A rally outside a fast-food restaurant? A snow shovel?

Oh, Right: The Ol’ “Everyman” Excuse Of Our Row House Only Has One Bathroom . . .

The man who would jump start a progressive revolution in this country . . . if he could just make it out of bed in the morning:

Chronically late Mayor de Blasio showed up 35 minutes after the scheduled start of his first State of the City speech on Monday. And he appeared to be in no rush.

An hour before the planned noon start, the mayor’s office tweeted a picture of de Blasio giving his speech “one more read-through.”

The mayor’s office offered no explanation for the latest in a series of de Blasio’s late appearances — some by as much as an hour.

During the mayoral campaign, some aides tried to blame their boss’ tardiness on the fact that he has just one bathroom in his Park Slope row house, which he was sharing at the time with his wife and two kids.
But other aides who once worked for the mayor say that was just an excuse and that he’s constantly late because he routinely oversleeps and is always behind schedule.

“The weirdest thing is that he doesn’t care that he’s late. He doesn’t care about anyone’s time but his own,” one former aide told The Post.

The State Of The City Is A Long List Of Vague Notions About Stuff That Will Never Come To Pass

But oh what a press release it turned out to be:

Still, for all its liberal loft, the address also reinforced Mr. de Blasio’s vulnerabilities: a tendency to propose plans anathema to crucial Albany lawmakers who must approve them, and a vagueness that has raised concerns about how the mayor can deliver on his promises.

As mayor, Mr. de Blasio, a former political operative, has so far overseen a campaign-style operation at City Hall, and his address on Monday more closely resembled a restatement of his usual themes than an airing of fresh policy proposals.

He was stingy with specifics, offering no dollar figure for what he hoped the city’s minimum wage would be, and his description of ambitious plans, like a goal of creating thousands of new units of affordable housing, came with few details about how they would be carried out.

That’s How You Build Support

Put a political campaign-style push together at the last minute, call it something like “FUCKUPNYC,” or something, and basically make up shit:

With demands for a robust lobbying effort growing before the April 1 deadline for a state budget, Mr. de Blasio has started an advocacy group, which has moved swiftly and at times clumsily. It recently released a list of high-profile New Yorkers who were said to endorse his proposed tax increase; in interviews, three on the list said they were not, in fact, supporters.

[. . .]

After Mr. de Blasio’s team released a list of endorsements from business and civic leaders recently, some on the list — including Victor and Sarah Kovner, longtime Democratic activists, and Richard I. Beattie, a corporate lawyer — said in interviews that they did not support the mayor’s proposal.

Oh, and don’t forget mobilizing the unions you are getting ready to negotiate with:

He has also found new allies, including several labor unions that did not endorse him during the Democratic primary but are looking to get into his good graces as they negotiate contracts with City Hall.

[. . .]

Mr. de Blasio has the support of several powerful unions, including the United Federation of Teachers, which did not endorse him in the primary and is now seeking $3.4 billion in retroactive pay. He also has the backing of 1199 S.E.I.U. United Healthcare Workers East, which supported Mr. de Blasio’s mayoral bid and is planning to give at least $100,000 to the effort. Labor leaders warned they might spend against lawmakers seeking re-election this fall if they stood in the way of Mr. de Blasio’s plan.