New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio regularly takes midday naps in his office, making it difficult for his subordinates to get things done, former aides say.
De Blasio reportedly wears himself out during his morning exercise routine at a Brooklyn gym, rendering him unable to move on with the day before taking a siesta.
“He would arrive at 10 a.m. after working out and then would be napping,” one ex-staffer told the NY Post.
The NYC Mayor is unconcerned about how his naps will be received by his staff, according to another source who told the NY Post de Blasio’s sleeping habits are “pretty widely known within the building.”
“He would tell his front-office staff: ‘Don’t bother me for the next 30, 45 minutes. I’m going to take a nap,'” the source said.
The frequent naps, which former staffers attribute to de Blasio’s insistence on waking up early to travel 12 miles to a Park Slope YMCA, disrupt work flow in City Hall, they say.
The Mayor’s commitment to making the trip to Brooklyn each morning drew charges of hypocrisy after he signed an executive order affirming New York City’s commitment to uphold the standards outlined in the Paris Climate Agreement.
“How about you stepping up your game and leading by example (by) getting out of your SUV armada?” energy-policy expert Charles Komanoff challenged de Blasio during his weekly appearance on WNYC radio in June.
De Blasio dismissed the criticism as “cheap symbolism.”
“We couldn’t plan our days that first year at City Hall,” the former staffer said. “Regardless of what you think of [previous Mayor Michael] Bloomberg, that guy was professional. Now, we’ve got this incompetence.”
The Democratic Mayor’s insistence on daytime sleep is nothing new according to one former staffer who worked on de Blasio’s campaign in 2009.
“Two o’clock, 3 o’clock would come around, and he would go home and take a nap,” the former staffer said. “By the third time, people were like, ‘Oh, for crying out loud. It’s a campaign. We’re not sleeping.'”
“He feels entitled to take a nap,” the source added.
De Blasio’s sleep patterns made headlines in 2014 when he infamously blamed his late arrival to a memorial service for the 265 people killed in the crash of American Airlines Flight 587 on lack of sleep.
Mayoral spokesman Eric Phillips did not deny de Blasio has ever napped on the job but told the NY Post that “the suggestion that the mayor’s regularly napping is absurd and untrue.”
All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.