The tensions that have erupted between Mayor de Blasio and the city’s police unions are casting a giant shadow over the mayor’s bid to bring the Democratic National Convention to Brooklyn.
Party officials are concerned the bad blood might still be an issue when the convention is held in 2016, stealing the spotlight from the party’s presidential nominee, a top Democrat told the Daily News.
“They’re worried about the optics,” said the source, who is familiar with the Democratic National Committee’s deliberations.
“Will [the police] turn their backs on the mayor? They don’t want side stories. The story should be the convention.”
The timing could not be worse for City Hall, as the national party is expected to pick a host city in the next few weeks.
Even some local Democrats who are helping de Blasio lobby for the 2016 extravaganza acknowledge the city’s bid now faces serious headwinds.
“Until we know how and when (the mayor’s problems with the police) are going to be resolved, the Democratic Party would not want to take the chance of this controversy being the backdrop for its convention selection,” a Democrat active in the city’s bid said.
“Imagine what the Republicans would say … that (the problems)’show the failure of progressive leadership.'”
The source added, “The way the mayor has handled the tensions in the city has raised the hurdle for New York City being chosen as the convention site. … In all probability, it’s a death knell for the city’s chances.”
New York is one of three finalists for the convention, along with Philadelphia and Columbus, Ohio. If New York is chosen, the convention would be held at the Barclays Center.
Ironically, in making his pitch to play host, de Blasio assured the national party that the city would have labor peace during the convention. The city’s bid does have widespread support among organized labor, including a coalition representing more than 1 million workers. But de Blasio’s relationship with several law-enforcement unions has deteriorated over the last several weeks.
The police unions have accused de the mayor of stoking anti-cop tensions by sympathizing with protesters angry about a Staten Island grand jury’s decision to clear cops in the death of Eric Garner, who had been placed in an apparent chokehold.
Patrick Lynch, head of the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association, even said de Blasio had “blood” on his hands following the execution-style murder of two officers by a cop-hating lunatic.
In a show of disrespect, cops twice in one week turned their backs on de Blasio — including at one of the cops’ funerals.
City Hall on Friday downplayed the possibility that the union issues will hurt its bid.
“With our unparalleled transit network, endless restaurants and cultural attractions, and historically low crime rates, no one can do that [the convention] better than New York City,” de Blasio spokeswoman Marti Adams said.
One police union leader said there’s no guarantee the bitterness will end in time for the 2016 convention.
“There’s no solution in sight,” said Sergeants Benevolent Association president Ed Mullins. “If the DNC were here next week, there’s a good chance that cops would turn their backs [on de Blasio] again.”
In August, Mullins’ union paid for full-page ads in two newspapers urging the DNC to choose another city for the convention.
The ad bashed de Blasio’s public safety policies and said the city was “lurching backwards to the bad old days of high crime.”
However, the city in 2014 recorded the lowest number of murders since before the NYPD began keeping reliable statistics in 1963.
If New York is not selected to be the convention host, expect de Blasio – who has tried to position himself as a national leader on progressive issues — to take some heat, the Democrat active in the city’s bid said.
“I think people are going to say it was a rejection not just of the city, but of the de Blasio administration,” the source said.
