Mayor De Blasio Cuts Back On Access For City Hall Press Corps
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Mayor Bill de Blasio has embarked on a new media diet, cutting back even further on his interaction with the City Hall press corps.
De Blasio was asked Wednesday if he enjoys taking questions from reporters. He had a two word reply, but it wasn't exactly a moment of truth.
"It's scintillating," he replied.
The mayor laughed and smirked, but his reply most likely did not represent his innermost feelings.
As CBS2 Political Reporter Marcia Kramer reports, what he probably wanted to say was "I'd rather chew glass," which may be why he's decided to further curtail his already limited interaction with the large City Hall press corps assigned to cover him.
Now, it's just once a week -- and he's apparently stopped taking on-topic questions if he's in public more than just the one time in any given week.
De Blasio watchers trace the new policy to an event on March 23rd, when the mayor had a public meltdown when he wanted to talk about his selected topic -- his unsuccessful arrival mansion tax proposal.
Reporters had other questions, and he was having none of it.
"I'm here to talk about this," de Blasio said at the time. "If you want to ask questions about this, I'm here to talk about this. If you want to talk about this, great. If not, we'll take questions another way another time."
Since then the mayor has enacted what some are calling his "Don't Ask, Don't Answer" policy, limiting himself to photo ops -- like when he welcomed a new ferry boat earlier this week -- where he talks, make a pronouncement, and steps away from the podium without answering any questions.
At one point in Wednesday's press conference, de Blasio was asked if he would even further curtail his press availability to once a month. He claimed there was no danger of that, and will continue to take questions once a week.
