In de Blasio’s City Hall, no bad deed goes unrewarded
By Post Editorial Board
New York Post
December 26, 2018
It’s another case of failing upward at Mayor Bill de Blasio’s City Hall: A former top Correction Department official caught up in that agency’s scandal over the misuse of city cars just got himself a big promotion.
No doubt, it didn’t hurt that he’s also a donor to the mayor’s political campaigns.
As The Post’s Nolan Hicks reported Monday, Jeff Thamkittikasem was quietly — that is, without any public announcement — appointed head of the mayor’s Office of Operations, which oversees the city’s 311 system.
Thamkittikasem originally was chief of staff to Correction Commissioner Joseph Ponte, who was forced to retire in disgrace in May 2017 after logging 18,500 miles on his city vehicle for trips to Maine.
Ponte was one of several top agency execs who misused their city vehicles — including Thamkittikasem, who admitted making 14 personal trips (including jaunts to Virginia and Washington) and was penalized $8,800 in fines and reimbursement.
Yet he was shifted to the mayor’s office as a “special assistant” and senior adviser to the first deputy mayor. And just weeks later, he got a $15,000 raise, on top of his $221,150 salary, plus the promotion.
City Hall defends the hiring, saying Thamkittikasem “has a proven track record fighting for social justice.” Then again, he also has a proven track record of opening his wallet for the mayor’s campaign, having donated a sweet $10,000 since 2013.
And as New York has come to learn so often, there’s no better way to earn Bill de Blasio’s undying loyalty, no matter how badly you mess up.
Also recall that Thamkittikasem isn’t the first Team de Blasio bad apple to be parachuted into a cushy new city job. Execs who were booted from the city’s Administration for Children’s Services and Department of Homeless Services were similarly soft-landed into comfy new city positions; the New York City Housing Authority’s general manager wound up as COO at the Brooklyn Navy Yard.
Failure, it seems, is no barrier to winning de Blasio’s love. Especially if you also steer money in his direction.
1 comment:
Promotion by favor is very common. I remember a local Chief of Police who got caught up in a embarrassing scandal with a subordinate. He was fired and later hired as the city's Director of Public Safety. Pay raise, take home ride and now over several department heads. It's not what you know, but who you know.
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