De Blasio Unmasked: 'Ohio Is The Center Of The Political Universe And I Love It There'

A new batch of emails that Mayor Bill de Blasio desperately fought to keep out of the public eye were quietly released on Thursday, offering yet another look at the day-to-day dealings of the mayor and his inner circle of outside advisors.

In case you're not yet caught up on the last 4,245 page document dump, the emails concern de Blasio's conversations with a cadre of trusted lobbyists and political consultants—a group he memorably deemed "agents of the city," in arguing that their conversations should not be subject to state disclosure laws. The New York Post and NY1 successfully sued to liberate the emails, and a few weeks later, on the Friday afternoon before Memorial Day weekend, the administration reluctantly released the first set of embarrassing communications. For the most part, they showed de Blasio at his most vindictive, lashing out at the media and anyone else who crossed him.

On Thursday morning, another moment in which New Yorkers were overwhelmingly distracted, the city released an even larger flood of emails. Amid mundane scheduling coordinations and awkward fumbling over lunch catering options, the trove of supposedly privileged discussions paints a familiar picture: a frequently aggrieved mayor whose contempt for the city's journalists is perhaps only eclipsed by his frustration with the state's governor. The man sure loves Ohio though!

Below, four takeaways from 14,420 pages of emails that the mayor really didn't want you to see.

'Ohio Is The Center Of The Political Universe And I Love It There'

If there's one thing that New Yorkers know deep in their hearts, it's that Ohio is the center of the political universe and we love it there. So who could blame a freshly-elected New York City mayor for seizing the first opportunity to flee this sleepy town, striking west for the seductive promise of high-powered dinners and hobnobbing at Ohio's annual State Democratic Party meeting? Not us, and certainly not his closest advisors.

The mayor was "intrigued" by an offer to speak in Ohio

Still, when de Blasio received an invitation to the soiree five days after his inauguration, his initial response was tepid, warning close aides of his intention to remain "VERY modest, local and travel-adverse" in his first year. On the other hand, the mayor of New York City continued, "Ohio is the center of the political universe and I love it there." ("There" presumably being the great state of Ohio, as a whole, since the invite does not reference a city). "From time to time, I do want to project the progressive message nationally to reinforce my fellow progressives," de Blasio considered, selflessly. "So this appeals to me."

When They Go Low, We Go 'NO'

The petulant, exhausting feud between Mayor de Blasio and Governor Cuomo is well-documented by now, rearing its ugly head in fights over public housing or transit or the occasional shark attack. But the new emails shed light on what may be one of their relationship's earliest fault lines, which began with the mayor approaching the governor to ask a small favor: Would Cuomo publicly condemn Patrolmen's Benevolent Association President Pat Lynch for attempting to bar the mayor from police funerals?

Instead of backing the mayor, Cuomo took Lynch's side in the dispute, praising his "fine" job of standing up for cops while trumpeting their shared Queens heritage. The slight infuriated de Blasio, who quickly fired off an indignant email to his staff and pseudo-staff: "From now on: the answer to any and all requests from the Cuomo Administration is NO. The default position is NO. Then we will decide if and when there should be any yesses."

Of course, the tension between the two had been present from the very beginning. At the start of the year, two months after de Blasio was elected, Cuomo mocked the mayor's "tale of two cities" during an appearance on WNYC. In response, emails show that de Blasio offered a premonitory warning to his closest advisors: "I will restrain myself but only up to a point."

Again With The 'Totally Dick-ish' Media

The mayor's deep animosity for the city's press corps was the key takeaway from the last batch of emails, in which he lambasted the "pitiful" news media and hungered for cutbacks at the Daily News (congrats?). His hypersensitivity to negative coverage was on display this time around, too. Responding to a Politico article that recapped some of the challenges his administration faced in its first two months, de Blasio huffed, "Notwithstanding my willingness to try to evolve and improve, I have to note that this piece by Blake [Zeff] is totally dick-ish."

"Feels like the game is just plain rigged," he continued. "Can someone give me a roadmap here? Because I just don't get it...where is this magical thing we should do better???"

In other emails, he referenced the "lazy reporting" of an MSN piece and claimed that the New York Times had "not treated [him] with the respect of previous mayors" after they turned down an op-ed he'd wrote. Former aide Peter Ragone replied that the piece was probably just not right for the Times, but removed de Blasio from the thread, because "I'm not in the mood for the beating I will take…"

Despite his apparent hatred of just about every journalist in New York, the mayor isn't above tossing an occasional scoop to his sworn enemies at the New York Post; emails show Berlin Rosen's Mike Rabinowitz pushing the Mayor's Office to hurry up finalizing the names of the celebrities set to attend an upcoming press conference, so that he could pitch it Page Six.

Leave Dante Alone!!!

When de Blasio and his inner circle aren't fuming about critical coverage or actively rooting for the demise of local news outlets, their correspondence is mainly focused on preparing the mayor for various speaking engagements. In his first year, a surprising amount of that manpower was aimed at de Blasio's late-night television appearances.

A scheduled post-inauguration stop on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart, for example, was cause for dozens of emails, multiple prep sessions, and hours seemingly spent studying other politician's performances on the show. Condoleezza Rice struck a "light tone" and President Obama came off "robotically," according to a document prepared by mayoral aides, which also reminds the mayor to "laugh at Jon Stewart's jokes" and "Bring fork and knife in pocket to eat a pizza in case Jon Stewart provides one." (He did.)

A "rough sketch to get ideas going" sent by Rebecca Katz to de Blasio's aides

But the really agonizing stuff comes when the aides—Cynthia Nixon's future campaign manager Rebecca Katz among them—begin sketching out possible jokes that our humor-loving mayor might tell. Like about how he eats pizza with a knife and fork (Ha!) and hopes he can fit in on the Upper East Side (Haha!). There's also a response to the question of de Blasio's son Dante's secret to growing an afro—an answer that is for some reason blotted out. Stewart ultimately didn't ask about the mayor's kid's hair, but that didn't stop "agent of the city" John Del Cecato from suggesting another comedian touch Dante's afro a month later, when de Blasio was preparing for his appearance on Jimmy Kimmel.

What's your secret, Dante? And why are the mayor's trusted friends and secret lobbyists so obsessed with your hair?

You can read and search the full collection of emails below.