Opinion

Pols gone wilding

If the City Council chose to salute Police Commissioner Ray Kelly for driving crime to new lows, we’d understand. If it recognized firefighters and EMTs who save lives every day, that would make sense.

But honoring the Central Park Five?

Even for a body infamous for its amateurism, radicalism and recklessness, this latest stands out. Most alarming, one council member who took part in Wednesday’s lunacy is at the moment leading the mayoral race: Speaker Chris Quinn.

Ask yourself: What, exactly, did the five defendants in the 1989 Central Park Jogger case do to deserve the salutary proclamation councilmembers awarded them?

Save lives? Sacrifice on behalf of others?

Not even close.

Yes, the group did serve time behind bars before having their rape convictions vacated. But no one’s ever shown that they were treated the least bit unfairly, especially given that they’d made confessions.

What’s more, to this day, the NYPD stands by the findings of ex-prosecutor Michael Armstrong that the group “likely” played a role in the attack — and surely participated in the rash of “wilding” assaults that night that helped inflame the city.

Still, Quinn & Co. pushed through a resolution that declares the group “innocent teenagers” and demands the city pay up immediately to settle a $250 million lawsuit they’ve filed.

Shouldn’t a woman who may well be New York’s next mayor know better?