McCray admits beep ‘thinking’
First Lady Chirlane McCray admitted she’s “thinking” about running for Brooklyn borough president when her husband, Mayor de Blasio, leaves office.
“The truth is I have not announced that I’m running for Brooklyn borough president — I am thinking about it — but there’s no announcement, no plan,” McCray said on WPIXTV Wednesday morning. “A lot of people are talking, though.”
De Blasio also said Wednesday McCray has a “serious interest” in the gig.
“She has gotten to a point where she has a serious interest in a particular office of Brooklyn borough president,” de Blasio said on WNYW’s “Good Day New York.” “But she’s not made the decision. She could go either way. She’ll make that decision in due time.”
Hizzoner has been angling for McCray to be the next Brooklyn beep, the Daily News reported last month. Critics have argued that McCray has been using her husband’s power as mayor to unofficially campaign, emphasizing initiatives and programs to boost her Brooklyn cred.
De Blasio snapped when “Good Day” cohost suggested he was “propping her up.”
“When you say people think there’s a consensus or whatever, I just don’t accept that you or anyone else can make that judgment. I really don’t. There’s no consensus,” de Blasio said, suggesting she’s been considering a run for office since 2018.
He also said people thank her “wherever” she goes for emphasizing mental health with her $1 billion ThriveNYC plan.
Comptroller Scott Stringer added the mental health plan to a watch list of city agencies and offices that seem to be wasting money. “It is becoming something that does not appear to be managed well,” Stringer said Tuesday.
Thrive pledged in June to release “outcome indicators” and data by the end of 2019 showing specifically how the pricey plan’s programs are functioning — but hadn’t done so as of this week.
“When you say you’re going to give numbers and you don’t give those numbers, that’s very telling,” Stringer said. “It’s become more of a political conversation.”
McCray said on PIX11 that Stringer was “doing a little bit of grandstanding” and insisted there was no delay, noting the city planned to give the comptroller’s office a “very special set of measures” by the end of next month. She declined to give any numbers showing how Thrive is working, claiming some data is already online. But those numbers aren’t what the city promised to reveal last year.
“I’m not going to give you the numbers on this show ’cause it would take too long,” McCray said on PIX11. “No one’s trying to get away with anything here,” she added with a laugh.
The comptroller’s office pointed out Thrive only posted budget data online after Stringer blasted it for lack of transparency.
“The comptroller added Thrive to his agency watch list because it missed self-imposed deadlines to publicly provide promised information, neglected to provide an accounting of spending, and failed to post outcome data that could tell us how effectively the program is performing,” Stringer spokeswoman Hazel Crampton-Hays said. “The office of Thrive cannot succeed at its mission if it cannot provide basic public transparency.”