VIEW GOT TO BE KIDDING!

DeB pins Ponte scandal on wrong ‘vantage point’

Mayor de Blasio undermined the city’s Department of Investigation on Friday as part of a crusade to vindicate his correction commissioner in a city-car abuse scandal.

Hizzoner insisted the DOI did not have a “perfect vantage point” when it issued a detailed report ripping Department of Correction head Joseph Ponte and other senior staffers for routinely misusing official vehicles for personal travel.

“It is as simple as this: The Department of Investigation — they, like any other agency, are going to have their views,” de Blasio said during his weekly appearance on WNYC radio. “No one has a perfect vantage point on things that happen.”

The mayor failed to mention that the DOI’s “views” were based on a thorough investigation that involved mapping more than 24.5 million GPS data points to track Ponte and other Correction Department honchos.

The agency discovered that Ponte used his city-issued car to log 18,500 miles of out-of-state travel over 90 days, mostly for trips to his home state of Maine. Thirty-five of those days fell during the work week.

The DOI responded to the mayor’s comments by saying it “stands by the facts presented in our report.”

Citizens Union Director Dick Dadey said the DOI “has the best vantage point to make such a determination.”

“The mayor is doing himself no good by defending an indefensible position,” Dadey said. “Everyone has different vantage points and can come to the same conclusion: No city commissioner should ever use his agency car for personal trips.”

De Blasio also said Friday that he could not comment on lower-level city employees who have been punished for far less serious vehicle infractions, claiming that media reports about several such incidents can’t be trusted.

“I’m not going to accept a media account,” he said. “If someone willfully, purposefully sought out to cheat the government and cheat the taxpayer, that merits a particular kind of response. If someone did it by accident or because of the wrong guidance, that’s a different response.”

De Blasio continued to insist Ponte didn’t intentionally violate city policy regarding the use of official vehicles — and simply got some bad advice.

“I asked Joe Ponte directly, and he gave me an accounting of the different ways that he got that guidance,” the mayor said.

But he refused to explain why he didn’t get details on who specifically advised Ponte on the use of city-issued cars.

De Blasio again credited Ponte with “turning around Rikers Island” — even though the jail continues to be plagued by rising levels of violence.

“I think that is a hell of a lot more important than he accidentally used his car the wrong way,” de Blasio added.