CITY HALL CHIP SHOT: Public Advocate Bill de Blasio hopes being pals with Bill and Hillary Clinton will help in his run for mayor. (
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Public Advocate Bill de Blasio is trying to cash in on his old ties to the Clinton White House.
The New York City mayoral hopeful is heading to DC next Wednesday to rub shoulders with Beltway insiders — many of whom he knows through his work as manager of Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton’s 2000 Senate campaign.
With disgraced ex-Congressman Anthony Weiner out of the race, some say de Blasio is trying to cast himself as the Clintons’ candidate of choice.
“Given the fact that Bill [Clinton] officiated at [Weiner’s] wedding, the feeling was that Hillary was going to pressure her world around Weiner. With Anthony now spending time making photo collages of his best social-media moments, it’s predictable that Hillary Land will coalesce around her former campaign manager,” said one of those Washington insiders, referring to Weiner’s Twitter scandal, which led to his resignation last year.
The fund-raiser is to be held at the DC home of Harold Ickes, former President Clinton’s deputy chief of staff.
Said an adviser to de Blasio: “Bill is very proud to have the support of longtime friends like Harold Ickes. That’s not the same thing as having the support of the Clintons themselves.”
The fete — tickets for which range from $250 to $4,950 — will be co-hosted by Bill Clinton confidant and lobbyist Tony Podesta, Hillary lobbyist and fund-raiser Janice Enright, Hillary former Finance Director Jon Mantz, and Nick Baldick, a field director in the former president’s 1992 primary campaign.
It’s not likely that Hillary will attend, since she is precluded from political gatherings and activity as secretary of state, a source close to her said.
“Doubt she’s thought about it,” the associate added when asked whether Hillary, who has said she plans to leave the State Department after 2012, would support any candidate for New York’s City Hall.
As it is, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, another mayor wannabe, also has many supporters close to the Clintons.
“[De Blasio] is trying to spin it that he’s the Clinton candidate,” another political insider said. “You can’t blame him for trying. The reality is that Chris Quinn has a great deal of support from the Clinton world and many of them have been contributing to the campaign.”
One Quinn supporter, Annie Mullaly Weir, was Hillary’s deputy finance director.
Then there’s Dara Freed. She was Hillary’s finance director for her 2006 re-election bid and is a Chris Quinn supporter and donor.
And such core members of Hillary’s Finance Committee as Robert Zimmerman and Cheryl Effron also are known donors to the Quinn cause.