Zips lips, gives press the slip

GREASING THE WHEELS

MAYOR DE BLASIO sidestepped questions — literally — a day after explosive testimony from a donor who said his cash translated into access and favors from Hizzoner.

Meanwhile, his opponents ripped him as corrupt and called for pay-to-play investigations to be reopened Friday.

“Is that what we want in a mayor?” Republican Nicole Malliotakis asked in a phone interview with The News.

“Someone who is looking for the little loophole or the way to skirt ethics laws to get away with something that’s inappropriate? To get away with violating the law? New Yorkers deserve better.”

The testimony from Jona Rechnitz, a federal cooperating witness, came during the trial of former correction union boss Norman Seabrook — one of several law enforcement figures he says he showered with cash in exchange for favors.

Rechnitz is at the center of an investigation into police corruption, but he testified Thursday that he’d also spread the love to the mayor — explicitly telling his top fund-raiser Ross Offinger that he’d bring in thousands but would expect to get his calls answered and his favors done in return.

At an event Friday in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, de Blasio refused to answer questions about his relationship with Rechnitz, Rechnitz’s testimony or whether he was corrupt, and ignored reporters — including one who asked “What’s your price?” — as he walked away.

At a second stop touring an affordable housing apartment project in Borough Park, the press got penned into a single room while de Blasio walked around. He spoke briefly about the project before ignoring more shouted questions from reporters who trailed him to his car and watched him drive off in silence.

He later attended a Halloween party at Gracie mansion as Daily Planet reporter Clark Kent — with a Superman logo underneath his shirt.

The mayor’s relationship with Rechnitz and another donor involved in the scandal, Jeremy Reichberg, was probed by both the U.S. attorney’s office and District Attorney Cy Vance Jr. Neither brought charges but issued scathing statements saying the mayor had violated the spirit of campaign-finance laws.

Malliotakis (below) said that investigation needs to be reopened in light of Thursday’s explicit testimony, but also because of donations the mayor’s lawyers made to Vance, who has been under pressure for taking contributions from defense attorneys.

Independent candidate and former detective Bo Dietl (below) went further — dangling a pair of handcuffs as he stood outside the U.S. attorney’s office.

“I’m a former detective. You know what, I know one thing. You see these handcuffs?… These handcuffs should be put on our mayor,” Dietl fumed. “I think I heard enough yesterday.”

De Blasio spokesman Eric Phillips had mocked Rechnitz’s credibility on Thursday, saying several agencies had investigated his claims and chosen not to charge anyone. He doubled down on Friday.

“If Jona Rechnitz says he bought the mayor, he is a liar. If he says he had unfettered access, he is a liar. The only thing Jona Rechnitz can say honestly is that he is a failed fixer of grand delusion just trying to save his own skin,” Phillips said.

But Dietl argued the witness was trustworthy enough to the prosecution.

“This is a federal witness that is most credible to our U.S. attorney as a federal witness that he’s telling the truth,” Dietl said. “And I think the truth was spoken yesterday and it will continue at the trial.”

Both candidates sought to use the blow to de Blasio as fodder for their own campaigns to take his job Nov. 7.

“This is an opportunity for the people of New York to get decent representatives in City Hall,” Malliotakis said. “Nov. 7 is an election, and people who are unhappy with payto-play and corruption ... have to come out

to vote.”