Blas’ ‘Transparent’ Retreat

It sure didn’t take long for Mayor de Blasio’s newfound love for transparency to turn sour. In Tuesday’s State of the City Address, the mayor proudly declared, “The people deserve to know who’s trying to influence elected officials and their senior staff.”

And he announced that, effective March 1, he’s requiring that “all commissioners and all people who report directly to the mayor disclose every time they have a meeting with a lobbyist.”

But that directive apparently doesn’t apply to meetings with de Blasio’s fat-cat donors. And “the people” deserving full disclosure don’t seem to include reporters.

Because just hours later, the mayor repeatedly clammed up when pressed about why one of his top aides had an unusual sitdown with a restaurant owner who later pleaded guilty to bribing Team de Blasio in return for official favors.

“I have nothing more to say,” responded the mayor when asked about current chief of staff Emma Wolfe’s meeting with Harendra Singh to negotiate more favorable terms of his lease on city-owned property.

Added de Blasio: “We handled everything ethically and appropriately.” It’s the same line he’s spouted over and over since Singh’s guilty plea became public.

Yet his own Department of Investigation says otherwise — detailing “unprecedented” measures City Hall took to bail Singh out, including top aides ordering agency officials to “resolve the matter” because Singh was “a friend of the mayor.”

Singh almost pulled it off, too — until he was arrested for bribing another pol.

“To strengthen a democracy,” said the mayor Tuesday, “we’ve got to create more accountability for those in power.” Just don’t include Team de Blasio’s many skeletons in the mix.