PBA continues trolling campaign against de Blasio with letter to DNC members

Aug. 27--ALBANY -- The union representing rank-and-file city cops is continuing to troll Mayor de Blasio outside New York.

Patrolmen's Benevolent Association President Patrick Lynch on Monday is set to send a letter to members of the Democratic National Committee trashing de Blasio and potential national ambitions he might have, including any possibility that he could seek to lead the DNC.

"Before you consider putting his name on a ballot, you should look past his self-promotion and consider his actual record," Lynch wrote. "He is neither the 'friend of working people' nor the progressive hero he claims to be, and he lacks the basic leadership skills that the position of DNC chairman would require."

The letter charges that the lame-duck mayor over the past several months "has been focused on only one goal: convincing the Democratic National Committee to care about him."

The letter knocks Hizzoner for his stepped-up national travels -- including accusing him of going to Vermont in hopes of becoming Bernie Sanders' running mate -- and for "spinning a tale to depict himself as the most progressive mayor in America."

"Nearly every week, he ignores his responsibilities here in New York so that he can jet across the country," Lynch wrote, urging DNC members to "judge Mayor de Blasio by his actions, not his words."

The PBA, which has been warring with de Blasio for much of his two terms, has been without a contract for a year.

In a statement to The News, de Blasio spokeswoman Olivia Lapeyrolerie said City Hall has "been working in good faith with the PBA to come to an agreement that is fair to police officers and taxpayers. . . . However, the PBA decided to seek arbitration instead of joining us at the bargaining table. We've always been more than ready to continue conversations to reach the fair contract our police officers deserve."

Lynch's letter went beyond hammering de Blasio for his relationships with the union. It also says he has "so badly mismanaged" the New York City Housing Authority that the feds have come in to take control and attacked him for refusing to meet until recently with new NYC Transit President Andy Byford despite the subway system "being in a state of crisis."

"If you see the mayor somewhere along his cross-country travels this year, do every New Yorker a favor: tell him to give up his political pipe dreams, come home, keep his word to working people, and fix the problems he was elected to solve," Lynch concluded.

With de Blasio this past weekend traveling to Wisconsin, the PBA also paid for full-page ads in the Kenosha News and Janesville Gazette in that state showing the mayor sleeping in a bed with a cheesehead on his head and wearing jammies.

"Mayor de Blasio: Wake up & Do Your Job. Pay NYC cops fairly NOW!" the ad said.

This isn't the first time the PBA has trolled de Blasio nationally, including running ads against the mayor during his trips to New Orleans and Iowa. It recently tried to buy time on the jumbotron at Fenway Park in Boston, but was denied.