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De Blasio distracted by multiple investigations: report
Mayor’s focus shifting away from policy, public appearances
The de Blasio administration’s alleged fundraising and management scandals are apparently catching up to the mayor, distracting him from his primary duties running the city.
Bill de Blasio is reportedly spending more time away from the public eye and from City Hall, working to tamp down the fallout out of the various investigations affecting his office.
De Blasio has delivered five speeches in the last two weeks that were closed to the media, more than in previous months, the Wall Street Journal reported.
“It would be dishonest to say there isn’t a heaviness floating around this building,” City Council Majority Leader Jimmy Van Bramer told the Journal. “That has to be affecting them.”
Karen Hinton, a spokesperson for the mayor, denied the investigations were taking the mayor away from his duties.
“The work continues and nothing will hinder the mayor’s commitment to improving life for all New Yorkers,” she told the paper.
De Blasio’s office has been tied to a federal corruption investigation focused on JSR Capital’s Jona Rechnitz and Jeremy Reichberg, a Borough Park community activist. His office is also being probed in connection to its decision to lift a deed restriction at 45 Rivington Street on the Lower East side, to the benefit of developers.
A Quinnipiac poll this week found 55 percent of New York voters polled agreed that de Blasio, “does favors for developers who make political contributions to campaigns in which he is involved.” [WSJ] – Ariel Stulberg