Blasé Bill: It’s not a big deal

Mayor de Blasio on Friday shrugged off a damning city report on the city jail boss’ misuse of his city-issued car — but the commissioner leading the probe fired back that Hizzoner was “misinformed.”

De Blasio claimed the investigation into Department of Correction Commissioner Joseph Ponte was much ado about nothing because Ponte had been given bad advice about use of the vehicles.

“He was advised. He followed that guidance. That guidance was wrong,” he said on WNYC radio. “We’re going to go fix it across these agencies.”

As for Ponte spending 90 days outside New York state in 2016, de Blasio insisted the commissioner had “made Rikers safer.”

“So, look, I don’t begrudge someone if they need downtime, so long as they get the job done,” the mayor said. “And he worked very hard and has continued to work hard for the people of New York City.”

He also said Mayor Mike Bloomberg was given a pass for spending many weekends away from the city in his home in Bermuda.

“We were very forgiving when my predecessor would leave on weekends to another country. I think we should be forgiving that Joe Ponte was told it was OK to go have weekends off with his family, while still doing his job,” the mayor said.

Within a half-hour of the radio appearance, DOI Commissioner Mark Peters — who had served as de Blasio’s 2013 campaign treasurer — blasted de Blasio in return, calling City Hall’s response “misinformed.”

“There can be no defense of this behavior, and City Hall harms government integrity by even trying,” Peters said in a statement.

“Our investigation conclusively demonstrated that Commissioner Ponte and others did not receive official ‘advice’ that they could use their cars for personal trips out of state,” he added.

“Indeed, one of the senior staff was previously fined by [the Conflicts of Interest Board] for related conduct.”

On Friday afternoon, de Blasio wrote in a tweet, “We take the DOI’s report seriously.”