Fresh off a campaign trip to Nevada, Mayor Bill de Blasio was touting a new proposal Tuesday in the rotunda of City Hall: A bill requiring New York City businesses with five or more employees, or one or more domestic workers, to give 10 days paid time off to their employees. New York could be the first city in the country to do it.
But the announcement quickly turned campaign-like.
De Blasio even used the same anecdote as his campaign stump speech often repeated on the trail:
De Blasio campaigning in Las Vegas: We were both working. So, two full time jobs, two young children. A lot of people have had that kind of experience. You know that's a lot to juggle. And then my mom got sick.
De Blasio at City Hall: We were both working, so two jobs, two kids, and then my mom got sick.
Las Vegas: We were juggling and trying to make sense of everything — Chirlane's mom got sick.
City Hall: And right after that, Chirlane's mom got sick, and we moved her close as well.
Las Vegas: So the reason I say that is not just to tell about our family, but I think that's about every family.
City Hall: Almost everyone has their version of that story: of somehow trying to do right by the people you love and earn a paycheck, and it feels like it makes less and less sense and it gets harder and harder all the time.
Even the signs for government event at City Hall seemed to mimic the mayor's presidential campaign message. "Protect working families," they read. His campaign slogan: Working People First.
The similarities did not appear to bother de Blasio.
"I have been in elections before and I have been in public service before, I don't think that's the way to think about it. If you're talking about the issues, if you're talking about working people, if you're talking about what you believe, it doesn't matter whether you are at a public event, government event, political event, I am saying the same thing everywhere," de Blasio said at City Hall.
The mayor did get a small push from one famous feminist Tuesday: Gloria Steinem, who was on-hand for the announcement, said she could support his presidential run.
"Mayor de Blasio is among my top four choices for president and the only male human being who is on that list," Steinem said.
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