So much for transparency.
Two top deputies of Mayor de Blasio, who campaigned on creating a new era of government openness, commonly use their personal Gmail accounts to discuss city-related issues, the Daily News has learned.
First Deputy Mayor Anthony Shorris and director of intergovernmental affairs Emma Wolfe routinely communicate via their private email addresses, according to multiple government insiders.
Good-government groups contend that’s a behind-the-scenes way to dodge oversight and contrary to the open government de Blasio vowed to run as he campaigned for mayor.
“Public officials should use their public emails for public activities,” said Blair Horner of the New York Public Interest Research Group.
As a public advocate, de Blasio published “transparency report cards” for city departments, concluding many failed to make their records public.
“I will increase transparency with a series of reforms of the Freedom of Information Law,” de Blasio told the New York City Bar when he ran for office last year.
Through the law, the public can legally access copies of emails sent from official government addresses.
Personal emails from City Hall honchos discussing government issues are also fair play under the state’s Freedom of Information Law.
But reporters and curious members of the public need to know those exact addresses when making a request for information.
“It makes it massively more difficult,” said John Kaehny, co-chairman of the NYC Transparency Working Group.
The majority of de Blasio administration officials switched over to public accounts several months after they came into office, he added.
Mayoral spokesman Phil Walzak strongly denies anyone in City Hall is purposely using their personal accounts to conduct city business.
“The de Blasio administration is committed to transparency, and officials use government email to conduct government business,” he said in a statement.
But government insiders who regularly communicate with City Hall say said the best way to reach Wolfe and Shorris is via their Gmail accounts.
“She’s very responsive,” said a community advocate, referring to Wolfe.
The two get hundreds of emails each day and a few are sent to their private accounts, a de Blasio official said.
They repeatedly try to get people to switch over to their City Hall addresses but sometimes accidentally respond via their Gmail addresses, according to the city official.
The City Hall bigs aren’t the only ones to be questioned for their private email use. Former Mayor Michael Bloomberg used an email account from his company, Bloomberg L.P., to deal with constituent complaints and other government matters, according to a report in DNAinfo.
In 2012, The News reported that Gov. Cuomo uses BlackBerry pin-to-pin messaging to contact staffers. More recently, his administration quietly adopted a policy to purge state employee emails more than 90 days old.
Good-government groups are seriously concerned.
“That’s a nuclear level of destruction compared to (some de Blasio) bad habits,” Kaehny said.
