His Rules Disrespected, Mayor Chastises Media

Mayor de Blasio, who has long sought to carve out his own rules for what questions he can and can’t be asked at press conferences, apparently felt that he was being treated like Rodney Dangerfield March 23 when, after he pressed his case for a “mansion tax” that is all-but-universally considered Dead on Arrival in Albany, three consecutive reporters sought to query him on other subjects.

He brushed each of them off, alluding to the fact that his public schedule announcing the event had specifically stated, “There will be on-topic Q. and A.” It may have particularly annoyed him that his three disobedient questioners were not even from outlets he regards as overly hostile or uncouth, and there­fore more prone to disregard such rules. But when each in succession persisted and no one else intervened to ask about the Mansion Tax, he stalked off.