THE BLAZ MENAGERIE
Mayor’s emails reveal he pushed ‘Sex’ actress to cast celebs for his pet causes
“Sex and the City” character Carrie Bradshaw would have wondered — what is it about confident, progressive politicians that makes them such close pals?
Maybe it's the celebrity angle. Before she ran for governor, Cynthia Nixon — who played Miranda opposite Sarah Jessica Parker's Carrie — passed along to de Blasio the concerns of high-society types and persuaded them to back his causes.
Nixon and the mayor even hit the town together, newly released emails show.
Nixon and her wife Christine Marinoni, who was once a de Blasio staff adviser on education issues, took de Blasio and his wife Chirlane McCray on a double date in 2014 to celebrate the mayor's anniversary that included a quiet dinner and a performance of “A Raisin in the Sun.”
But it wasn't all cupcakes and cosmos. Repeated requests for Nixon to line up “celebrity validators” for programs like universal pre-K and NYC Well, a mental health initiative pushed by McCray, had the administration sounding as needy as Carrie.
City Hall staff gushed over Nixon's ability to get boldfaced names to tweet about McCray's mental health program.
“Cynthia, I should have said this on the phone, but the First Lady is over the moon with all this celebrity engagement. We are doing important work connecting people to resources!” McCray adviser Erin White wrote to Nixon in October 2016, as the administration tallied tweets about the new program.
Nixon also helped line up actor Denis O'Hare to speak at the event launching NYC Well, the emails show.
Previously, she'd provided star power on her own when she appeared in a sketch during the mayor's first Inner Circle Show rebuttal in 2014 — a riff on the “Honeymooners” where she acted alongside de Blasio, McCray and Steve Buscemi.
“I'm scared but I'll do what is asked .... yikes,” Nixon said of appearing in the show.
But there were some requests that were beyond Nixon — such as when a mayoral adviser suggested “30 Rock” actress Jane Krakowski as a good choice to perform at a Gracie Mansion holiday party in December of 2014.
“Afraid I can't ask her due to some unpleasantness I had with her but u guys definitely could ask her,” Nixon replied.
Nixon's role as ambassador to celebrities also invovled funneling their requests to de Blasio and his staff.
Parker guest starred in one email exchange — asking Nixon and Marinoni if de Blasio could help small business owners in the West Village.
“We are having other problems in our neighborhood as well and the city hasn't been responding. Some are issues related to the very things our mayor was criticising Bloomberg for,” Parker wrote to the couple on Sept. 25, 2014.
“Lots of new little fines and potential shut downs of businesses. Wanting to be supportive and convince our local business leaders that we can get some support and a rational ear as well that de Blasio wasn't just courting votes but listening.”
Parker's email passed along a message from the owner of Tea & Sympathy, a West Village shop she said was in danger of losing its lease because a new landlord was trying to get the store to pay back taxes.
Nixon sent Parker's note to several people in the mayor's office — and Peter Hatch, then de Blasio's chief of staff, promised to look into it with the Small Business Services department.
Nixon also reached out directly to the mayor in late July of 2014 with a complaint about helicopter noise from Oskar Eustis, the artistic director of the Public Theater, which in the summer puts up Shakespeare plays at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park.
"Dearest Cynthia, If you have a chance to mention to the mayor the PLAGUE of helicopters at the Delacorte, I'd appreciate it,” Eustis had written to Nixon. “There's apparently a new, ‘uber' like helicopter service and it is DESTROYING King Lear. Bill can ask Chuck Schumer about it, Chuck was there last night.” The mayor was perturbed. “Thanks for sending this along, Cynthia. That's a new one on me - no idea why the helicopters would be over the park. We'll check this out and get you an answer asap,” he wrote.
A few days later, Hatch reported that he'd reached out to several groups that manage helicopter traffic, including the LaGuardia Airport control tower — which advised pilots to use a different route on performance nights. Hatch said that “should result in a significant reduction in flyovers this summer.”
Nixon and the mayor engaged in plenty of discussion of theater and the arts — including that anniversary trip to see “A Raisin in the Sun” just two weeks before the production closed.
“Hey you two — how goes it? I know your anniversary is coming up in a couple of weeks and Christine and I want to invite you to come see Raisin in the Sun with us,” Nixon wrote to de Blasio and McCray on May 13, 2014. “No worries at all if you can't but it's supposed to be really great and it's closing on June 15 so Christine and I are going to try not to miss it. Let us know. Much love, Cynthia.”
The planning involved considerably more bureaucracy than most nights out — including a lengthy discussion of whether the mayor could accept free tickets. It was decided the de Blasios should not accept Nixon's gift, and instead use “Bill's credit card info.” There was also a back-and-forth with a scheduler about snagging reservations at Orso, an Italian spot Nixon suggested.
The restaurant initially said they were “completely booked” — even after a staffer “let him know who was attending dinner.”
But within a few hours the restaurant followed up, the staffer wrote, and was “able to find a table for 4 at 6:30 PM in the back.”
“Perfect! (Had a feeling they would :-)),” Nixon replied.
She even wanted to pick up the tab: “Are there rules about dinner? Can we pick up the tab or is that not allowed?” she asked in one email.
In 2016, de Blasio took in a performance of “MotherStruck!,” which Nixon directed, and offered rave reviews: “And I never got to tell you how great MotherStruck! was. What a talent she is, and beautifully directed may I say. See you soon! Best, Bill.”
One subject was notably missing from the emails — Nixon's gubernatorial bid. The pair appear not to have discussed her ambitions via email, nor did they ever gab about mutual enemy Gov. Cuomo, whom Nixon is challenging and has feuded with de Blasio.
Nixon spokeswoman Lauren Hitt said the candidate's relationship with de Blasio was no secret.
“As a devoted education activist, it's no secret Cynthia fought hard to elect Mayor de Blasio and to get his education initiatives like universal pre-K passed,” Hitt said. “Naturally, as people who work closely together do, they sometimes spoke about other things. The rest is just palace intrigue.”