Bill de Blasio played it safe with his first mayoral appointment, picking as his top deputy a left-leaning senior manager with a long government résumé.
The mayor-elect made clear that he would rely heavily on Anthony Shorris, who has the kind of hands-on city-government experience dating back to 1978 that de Blasio lacks.
“This will be the person I turn to to run the day-to-day operations of government,” de Blasio said.
At the introduction, it was difficult to hear the diminutive Shorris until the 6-foot-5 de Blasio advised him to step on a box raising the lectern.
“Why don’t you step on that? That’ll be your first instruction,” de Blasio said.
“I’ve always looked up to him,” Shorris deadpanned.
Shorris, who had previously served Mayors Ed Koch and David Dinkins and Gov. Eliot Spitzer, said he was eager to join an administration that de Blasio had promised would be a sharp departure from the Bloomberg era.
“We have waited a long time for this progressive moment,” Shorris said at the announcement in a transition office across from City Hall.
“I am incredibly excited to join our new mayor and this team to take the city in a new direction.”
Shorris, 56, is leaving his post as senior veep and vice dean at NYU Langone Medical Center.
De Blasio, who got his start at City Hall working for Dinkins, hinted that Shorris’ appointment will avoid the fuzzy chain of command of the Dinkins administration. “We will have clear lines of authority,” the incoming mayor said.
“We will not have a situation where people don’t know what the accountability standards are.”
Ex-colleagues praised Shorris’ experience as executive director of the Port Authority; finance commissioner and deputy budget director for Koch; and as a Board of Education official.
“He’s been groomed in about the best way you can,” said Harold Levy, who, as schools chancellor from 2000 to 2002, was Shorris’ boss.
“He’s had financial responsibility at the city level. He ran a big agency, the Port Authority, and was CFO for the schools system, which is 40 percent of the city budget. So he’s perfect for the job.”
But at the PA he was also criticized for cost overruns and delays in rebuilding the World Trade Center site and for a lack of transparency.
Two de Blasio aides were also elevated — deputy campaign chief Emma Wolfe as the director of intergovernmental affairs and Dominic Williams as chief of staff to Shorris.
Records show that Shorris was an early de Blasio backer and donated $2,525 to his campaign, Shorris’ only contribution to a mayoral candidate.
Shorris is married to Maria Laurino, a former speechwriter for Dinkins — just like de Blasio’s wife, Chirline McCray.
Dinkins married the Shorrises at Gracie Mansion in December 1993.
The couple had planned to get hitched in 1994, but moved up the date after Dinkins lost his re-election bid in November 1993.