Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio wants a diverse adminstration that represents the faces of New York City. But Republicans? Not so much.
“Let’s not get crazy about this diversity idea,” de Blasio said half-jokingly Sunday when asked whether he would appoint GOPers.
The remark, made after he announced his pick to lead the city’s child welfare agency, drew laughs from his staff and members of the audience.
He quickly moved to clarify that some of his recent picks had also served in Republican administrations and that he was more concerned with similar philosophies than party registration.
“We actually had, if you look at the transition leadership through all the appointments we’ve made, we actually have people from the Dinkins administration, the Koch administration, the Giuliani administration and Bloomberg administration,” he said. “So I am wonderfully agnostic when it comes to where people serve.”
Incoming Police Commissioner Bill Bratton was first appointed by Rudy Giuliani and Lilliam Barrios-Paoli, his deputy mayor for health and human services served under Bloomberg.
But de Blasio soon admitted he was skeptical about the number of Republicans that share his views.
“It’s a free country. We consider Republicans, too. But they have to share our values,” he said, then added: “That may be a high bar for some Republicans.”