Mayor Still- See-No-Evil

Mayor de Blasio is so intent on going to the mat defending Correction Commissioner Joseph Ponte’s blatant abuse of a city vehicle and frequent absences from work that he’s now trashing his own investigators for blowing the whistle.

The city Department of Investigation does not have “a perfect vantage point on things that happen,” the mayor claimed Friday on Brian Lehrer’s radio show.

As if professional investigators don’t know how to, you know, investigate.

As for the DOI probe that uncovered the abuse by Ponte and his subordinates: That’s just “their views,” said de Blasio.

Well, “views” backed up by evidence like the GPS and toll records and credit-card receipts. Is that proof supposed to look different from a different “vantage point”?

The mayor must believe his DOI isn’t doing its job right unless it gives his commissioners a free pass for their errant behavior — as de Blasio does himself.

He says Ponte’s (and his wife’s) improper use of a city vehicle to log 18,500 miles back and forth to Maine should go unpunished — because Ponte’s heart is in the right place.

“He never intended to do anything wrong,” said the mayor, suggesting Ponte was given bad advice — though he refuses to say where that advice came from. (Shouldn’t he at least be looking to fire whoever that might be?)

Correction’s own guidelines specifically prohibit use of a city car for personal jaunts. But Ponte used his to stay out of town for 90 days last year, including 35 workdays — 29 of them on the clock.

Let’s hope correction officers aren’t as blasé as their boss when it comes to obeying departmental rules.

All that matters to de Blasio about Ponte is what’s “in his heart” and the fact that he’s doing an “outstanding” job.

Is he? News broke Friday that the state Correction Commission is refusing to send prisoners to Rikers because the city-run jail doesn’t meet minimum safety standards.

The tone-deaf mayor not only won’t even slap Ponte’s wrist, he refuses to admit the outrageous double standard in play, when lower-level city employees have lost their jobs for more minor violations.

As far as de Blasio is concerned, his commissioners, like his aides and his donors, can do no wrong.