Impeach Mayor Bill de Blasio. The words have such a nice ring and the idea is so appealing that it offends common sense to realize it won’t happen.
Petitions to bring about that happy ending are online but going nowhere. Even if they attracted signatures by the busloads, there is no provision in the city charter for removing the mayor by petition.
Only the governor can do it and, much as Gov. Andrew Cuomo would savor the moment, he probably needs the mayor to get convicted of a crime to justify it as something beyond a personal vendetta. But with liberal prosecutors decriminalizing everything short of murder, that route is closed for now.
Yet the governor could argue that de Blasio has failed to carry out the first duty the charter assigns him, to wit: “The mayor shall be responsible for the effectiveness and integrity of city government operations and shall establish and maintain such policies and procedures as are necessary and appropriate to accomplish this responsibility.”
Nobody will ever accuse de Blasio of delivering an effective and honest government, so Cuomo would have a legal leg to stand on. But so far, no dice.
Although we’re apparently doomed not to have the pleasure of bidding de Blasio an early goodbye, we can appreciate a priceless example of irony: The obstacles stopping the public from sweeping the bum out of City Hall wouldn’t stop de Blasio if he were wielding the broom. To him, laws are for little people.
Which brings us back to the twin causes of our grievance — de Blasio’s nonfeasance and malfeasance.
His lack of interest in the day-to-day management of city services is unlike that of any recent predecessor. Whether it’s homelessness, failing schools or subway breakdowns, the mayor can’t be bothered.
As he does with the hapless Housing Authority, he makes token appearances and opens the money spigot, then disappears as if he’s actually done something. His laziness is legendary, as is his short attention span.
“Give me a yes or no answer!” he demanded of a former aide who was trying to describe the complexity of homeless housing.
Such experiences help explain high turnover among his staff. Many decided life was too short to be insulted by someone whose only ambition is ambition.
From Day One, de Blasio played politics instead of governing. The old axiom that good policy is good politics is lost on him. His view of his job is politics, politics, politics.
His ruthlessly selfish agenda spurred the corruption probe that should have ended with federal charges. It was obvious from news reports that the mayor was engaging in a pay-to-play scheme with developers, unions and vendors.
In fact, the sole reason he set up the Campaign for One New York slush fund was to evade campaign finance limits. Reports showed he and aides targeted those with business pending before City Hall and hit them up for donations that often exceeded $50,000.
Millions came in and millions went out, with many donors getting the favors they wanted.
It was a scheme that looked illegal and prosecutors clearly thought it was. Then they lost their nerve.
They gave de Blasio a rhetorical slap, but backed down from filing charges because the Supreme Court tightened the definition of corruption. Because they couldn’t show de Blasio put donated money in his pocket, they found no “personal profit” worthy of charges.
As I’ve written, it was a timid choice. And that was before we learned the prosecutors were hiding a bombshell.
They waved the white flag on de Blasio in March 2017, even though they had secured a guilty plea from one of de Blasio’s donors in October 2016.
Restaurateur Harendra Singh admitted bribing de Blasio and two Long Island officials, and prosecutors said Singh got favors in return from de Blasio. Yet while the briber is guilty, the bribee got off scot-free. Huh?
Had New Yorkers known of Singh’s guilty plea, they would have found it incomprehensible that the mayor wasn’t charged. I still do.
Preet Bharara, then the Manhattan US attorney, signed off on the surrender, which happened about the same time he was fired for unrelated reasons by President Trump.
Bharara was aggressive about going after political corruption, and spoke about it in zealous ways. I thought he was a moral force in public life, but the revelation about Singh is part of the reason I’m having doubts.
Bharara’s bitter sniping about Trump on Twitter makes him look like he’s just another self-righteous Democrat in prosecutor’s clothing.
His partisanship also sheds a different light on his record. In hindsight, his overreaching against insider trading on Wall Street looks less brave and more like he was doing the bidding of the class warfare-oriented Obama White House.
Ditto for his failure to pursue the glaring misdeeds of the Clinton Foundation. And why didn’t he speak up when the FBI in Washington sat for a month on the Hillary Clinton emails that Bharara’s team found on Anthony Weiner’s laptop, a delay that seemed designed to run out the election clock?
Whatever his motives, Bharara stayed clear of the Dems’ sacred cow.
So Preet can prattle on about the need for independent prosecutors, but he didn’t live up to his own standard when he had the chance.
The proof is that Clinton was never charged and New York is stuck with de Blasio.
No end to PC song & dance
Headline: “High school cancels musical after white student lands lead role.”
Tell me, where does this end?
Readers on the FBI mess
My column on the dangers of a corrupt FBI brought many reader reactions. Here are three favorites.
Paul D. Vesely writes that “We survived 48 years of J. Edgar Hoover and his incredible abuse of power. But there is a difference now. Hoover used the FBI to secure his position and power. It was all about him, not ideologically driven.
“Today, our government includes a cadre of people who are ideologically driven. This cabal is insidious and very dangerous.”
Jock Elliott raises two good questions: “Why did the FBI hire Christopher Steele? And what did they pay him for?”
Finally, Michael Vinding offers hope by quoting a famous Calvin Coolidge observation: “Nothing in the world can take the place of Persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts.
“Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan ‘Press On’ has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.”
Amen.
Princess Liaries
There’s spin, and there’s royal spin.
Japan’s imperial palace says Princess Mako’s wedding, scheduled for November, will be postponed for two years because of “insufficient preparations.”
Of course, the delay has nothing — absolutely nothing! — to do with published reports about the feuding family of the princess’ fiancé, a commoner.