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| Chirlane McCray |
Being the wife of the New York City Mayor has its perks. It seems that Chirlane McCray believes that the biggest taxpayer gift to her is to open the city's public bank accounts and take first class plane flights around the United States and fly first class.
Not.
I personally get outraged when I hear of scams like this, where my taxes help pay for Mayoral glorification. Everytime Chirlane McCray or Bill de Blasio, Mayor of New York City and her husband, get on a plane using my money I would like very much for them to think, however briefly, of the children that live with rats in the cold in the NYCHA apartments. Many were poisoned by lead. Evidently there is not enough money to fix the NYCHA housing problems, there are too many and the problems are too enormous.
When do these people - Chirlane and Bill - leave office?
It should be now.
Betsy Combier
betsy.combier@gmail.com
Editor, Advocatz.com
Editor, NYC Rubber Room Reporter
Editor, Parentadvocates.org
Editor, New York Court Corruption
Editor, National Public Voice
Editor, NYC Public Voice
Editor, Inside 3020-a Teacher Trials
Rich Calder, NY POST, October 15, 2018
It’s a big country, and Chirlane McCray is intent on seeing it — on the taxpayers’ dime.
Records show McCray, who was a stay-at-home first lady during Mayor Bill de Blasio’s first 16 months, has been making up for lost time.
She’s taken at least 30 business trips out of state since May 2015 as she gears up for a possible run for public office.
Sometimes, taxpayers are stuck with multiple bills for the jaunts.
McCray was accompanied by four aides on a three-day trip to Washington, DC, in May 2016 to promote mental health, according to records obtained through the Freedom of Information Law.
The taxpayer-reimbursed bill for travel, hotel, food and other expenses: $4,200.
When McCray accompanied her husband to Indianapolis in June 2016 for a US Conference of Mayors meeting, taxpayers spent $2,515 so she could fly first class.
Economy-class tickets were going for as little as $216 round trip on Google Flights on Monday for travel in two weeks.
In August 2017, McCray flew with de Blasio to New Orleans, where she met with elected officials and spoke about diversity in the newsroom at the National Association of Black Journalists conference.
Excluding de Blasio’s cost, the bill for her and a staffer over the two days came to $3,234.
On at least one trip, McCray took along Ed Reed, a City Hall photographer, to capture her every move.
Reed billed the city $506 for snapping shots of McCray during a three-day DC trip in September 2016, which was highlighted by her meeting with then-presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.
Among the trips McCray and her staff have taken over the past year on what is described as city business were stops in Puerto Rico, Chicago, Boston and Oakland, Calif.
Brittany Jones, a spokeswoman for McCray, said, “The first lady occasionally travels outside of [New York] to both promote the work that the city is doing, particularly around mental health and racial and gender equity, as well as bring best practices back to the city’s work from localities and national experts.”
She blamed the high costs of the New Orleans and Indianapolis trips on “unexpected delays in booking travel, something that is rare and avoided whenever possible when city staff are traveling.”
Jones also said staffers who accompany McCray are selected “based on the nature of the event and often include policy experts … to maximize the benefits of the trip.”
She added that “photographers very rarely travel with the first lady and are determined on a case-by-case basis.”
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