“Subject: Let’s minimize press activity at REBNY”
The email came from a City Hall spokesperson in January 2014, as Mayor Bill de Blasio’s handlers prepped for the Real Estate Board of New York’s annual gala.
“He has private entrance and will skip reporters on the way in, and REBNY said they’re going to limit access to the VIP reception,” wrote then-City Hall spokesperson Marti Adams to other public relations staff, including outside publicist Jonathan Rosen.
The REBNY game plan surfaced Thursday in a large dump of emails — between de Blasio’s staff and outside consultants — that a Manhattan court judge ordered released, following a lawsuit brought by NY1 and the New York Post.
Though he campaigned for mayor by attacking the real estate industry, de Blasio filled his election account with developer cash, making for a rather awkward, if not impolitic, first appearance at REBNY as mayor.
The real estate gala was not the only time the mayor expressed frustrations with the press. In other emails, he bemoaned his relationship with the Fourth Estate.
“First of all, the news media is pitiful and it’s sad for our city and nation,” the mayor wrote.