‘Heckuva Job, Shola’

Mayor de Blasio’s fulsome praise of his embattled NYCHA chief is starting to sound a lot like George W. Bush’s “heckuva job, Brownie” attaboy to his FEMA chief during Hurricane Katrina. Widely attacked for not booting Shola Olatoye despite despicable conditions in NYCHA buildings and her falsehoods to the feds and the City Council, the mayor this week doubled down.

She has “steadily, consistently improved a very troubled organization” and “needs to stay for the good of [NYCHA] residents, and I don’t care how many people feel differently,” he said on “Good Day New York.”

Never mind her failure to inspect for lead and her lies about it. Pay no attention to the ceilings caving in on residents. And the broken boilers that left tenants freezing. And the mold. And deadly elevators. And . . .

No, Olatoye isn’t at fault, the mayor insists: Blame Mike Bloomberg. Oh, and the media, and NYCHA middle managers.

“Good Day” host Rosanna Scotto was dumfounded: “There are reports in every paper” that Olatoye “lied” to the council, she noted.

De Blasio’s response: “Don’t believe everything you read in the papers.”

“But the Department of Investigation is looking into this now, ” pressed Scotto.

“I don’t always believe [DOI] either,” the mayor huffed. (Blas is consistent: He ignored other DOI red flags, even amid the rising toll of children dying from abuse on the watch of his Administration for Children’s Services.)

Meanwhile, he credits Olatoye with something she had virtually nothing to do with: rolling back crime. “Working with the NYPD, she helped to bring down crime steadily,” he boasted.

Nice p.r. trick: Blame others for her failures and credit her for others’ success.

Bad enough that de Blasio puts loyalty to his staff over concern for the citizenry. Disgraceful that his excuse-making is so baldly cynical.