When the mayor is proud of something, you'll know it. There will be press conferences, press releases, and more press conferences reminding reporters of some amazing transcendent event.

And then there's yesterday, when reporters were e-mailed at 5:18 p.m. that the city is easing rules on a circumcision ritual that health advocates say could put some children at risk.

The mayor is following through on a pledge to some conservative Jewish rabbis to rescind a decree by the Bloomberg administration that made parents sign a consent form before a rabbi could use his mouth to suck blood away from the incision on a boy’s penis. Besides raising the hair on the back of your neck just now, the practice had been linked to more than a dozen cases of herpes infections, including two deaths.

City health officials say that the Bloomberg administration's rule actually drove the practice underground and families rarely signed the consent form. Their belief is that under the new rules, infections will go down because rabbis who test positive for herpes – after a child is infected – will be banned from the practice.

I'd love to be able to quote some of these city health officials by name but as The Times' Michael Grynbaum points out:  "The administration did not allow city health officials to speak on the record during a briefing about the new policy. Instead, reporters were asked to attribute quotations to 'Official 1' and 'Official 2.' "

If these rules are such a good idea, why not put a name to it? And why send an e-mail out right around deadline time?

Much like de Blasio's pledge to ban horse-drawn carriages in the city, this move seems more like a transactional political decision than one rooted in firm policy. And, again, if you're really behind a decision, put a name to it.

Meanwhile, the mayor is clearly up to something when it comes to quietly courting the conservative Jewish vote.

Grynbaum reports: "On Monday, the mayor, along with two aides, attended a wedding in New Square, N.Y., a largely Hasidic village in Rockland County. He received a blessing from the town’s grand rabbi before making the 45-minute drive back to Gracie Mansion."

Unlike de Blasio's closed-door meeting with the owners of minority and women-run businesses that day, the event wasn't on the mayor's public schedule.

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Brush Up My Shakespeare: As an English teacher pointed out yesterday, I incorrectly used the term "salad days" when referring to Sheldon Silver's retirement in my column. The term – created by Shakespeare in "Antony and Cleopatra" – refers to a youthful heyday. In Silver's case, "golden years" would have been far more appropriate. Mea culpa.

 

Bob Hardt