WASHINGTON — New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio is planning to be in Washington Friday, but he never bothered to tell members of Congress who represent different districts of the city about his upcoming trip.
“I heard that de Blasio was coming down here today. He isn’t meeting with the congressional delegation at all,” New York Democratic Rep. Charlie Rangel told The Daily Caller early Wednesday evening. “I was really shocked, because we were very anxious to go over some local issues with the city delegation, but we called, and we found out he was only making a few select visits.”
De Blasio’s relationship with fellow New York Democrats is a rocky one. The mayor is in a public feud with Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Cuomo is reportedly busy seeking out candidates who could primary de Blasio in the next mayor’s race.
“He never told us he was coming down,” Rangel said of De Blasio’s snub to the congressional delegation. “We heard it when there was talk about it, but that was it. I don’t think it’s that surprising.”
Mayor de Blasio is expected to hold a presidential forum in Iowa next month, and Democratic city officials are not pleased with the political advocacy that continues to take him around the country.
“It upsets me that he hasn’t done a town-hall meeting,” Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer, told The New York Post on Wednesday.
The Post notes that de Blasio’s predecessors Ed Koch, David Dinkins, Rudy Giuliani and Mike Bloomberg all routinely held town-hall meetings with constituents.