Chirlane McCray won’t have an office in City Hall — but the city’s first lady will be only steps away from her adoring hubby with an official title and a space across the street.
Mayor de Blasio appointed his wife Thursday as chair of the Mayor’s Fund to Advance New York City, a nonprofit that coordinates public-private partnerships with the city.
In a press conference highlighted by two kisses, a high-five and an affectionate pinch, de Blasio announced his wife was the only candidate considered for the unpaid post.
“The closest person to me in the world is Chirlane McCray, and she has been foundational to all we’ve done, and I thought it was very important that she play a role in actualizing this vision. I think this is the perfect role in which she can do that,” he said.
He joked about posting a help-wanted ad in the second floor of their home in Park Slope, Brooklyn.
“Thank you, Mayor de Blasio,” McCray said.
“You’ve never called me that before!” he replied.
“It is such an honor to be named chair of the Mayor’s Fund to Advance New York City, but you may have to come over here, Bill, and pinch me,” McCray said.
So he did.
Formed in 1994, the fund focuses on such initiatives as environment, youth development, financial empowerment, health, volunteerism and the arts.
De Blasio insisted his wife would be guided by their “progressive values.”
“I know the official name of the organization is the Mayor’s Fund, but it really is the people’s fund,” McCray said.
The mayor’s office had gotten clearance from the city’s Conflicts of Interest Board for the appointment and office at 253 Broadway.
Rachel Noerdlinger, longtime aide to the Rev. Al Sharpton, was hired last week as McCray’s $170,000-a-year chief of staff.
The fund’s budget under Mayor Michael Bloomberg hit $37 million in 2012.
The city pays the fund’s operating budget of about $380,000 a year, but all other funds are generated through private donations.
Asked whether McCray would be hitting up billionaire Bloomberg for a donation, de Blasio said the fund could survive without his checkbook.
“Most of our mayors do not have $25 billion,” de Blasio explained. “It’s not the same as me writing a check, but we will get it done.”
The fund was created under Mayor Rudy Giuliani and run by Tamra Lhota, whose husband, Joe Lhota, ran against de Blasio in the general election.
“We’ll be putting our own stamp on the Mayor’s Fund, of course,” de Blasio said, adding the focus would shift to immigrants, kids and outer boroughs.
De Blasio also announced he was naming Gabrielle Fialkoff as a senior adviser to direct public-private partnerships.
Fialkoff and de Blasio had worked together on Hillary Rodham Clinton’s 2000 US Senate campaign.
Asked if he and his wife modeled their working relationship on the Clintons’, de Blasio said, “Let’s define ourselves by ourselves.”
McCray said she wasn’t worried about the scrutiny her new job entailed.
“I don’t have anything to hide,” she said, before high-fiving the mayor.