http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/13/nyregion/wikileaks-clinton-campaign-john-podestra-de-blasio.html 2016-10-13 02:09:21 WikiLeaks Emails Show Mayor de Blasio Venting at and Appealing to Clinton Campaign The release of a second batch of John D. Podesta’s emails shows Bill de Blasio urging the campaign to engage left-wing Democrats. === The emails came morning and night, apparently unsolicited, often from the mayoral BlackBerry: messages from Mayor Mr. de Blasio And he wanted Mrs. Clinton’s aides to know that, even if he was playing In Mostly, as the earlier batch of emails “Should we care about this?” Mr. Podesta, the chairman of Mrs. Clinton’s campaign, But if the first leak showed that Mrs. Clinton’s aides were cool to Mr. de Blasio’s pitches, the second showed that he was determined to offer himself as an adviser — less a Clinton skeptic waiting for her to prove her liberal bona fides, as he said publicly at the time, than a Clinton cheerleader pushing the campaign to engage the Democratic Party’s left wing. In September 2015, the mayor typed out a He urged the campaign to participate in the income inequality forum, saying that he would also invite Mr. Sanders, but that he “quietly first want to see what date works for you guys.” And he outlined what he planned to say in a television interview with the ABC News journalist George Stephanopoulos, promising to cast Mrs. Clinton in a positive light. If asked why he had not yet endorsed her, he said, he would “allude to The Progressive Agenda.” (He ultimately On Wednesday, Eric Phillips, the mayor’s press secretary, argued on Twitter that Mr. de Blasio’s messages were, as private email leaks go, not all that humiliating — and, more to the point, on brand. “What’s a @BilldeBlasio hot mic catch? Him pushing on mass incarceration,” he Mr. Podesta’s inbox was comparatively short on mentions of Gov. The campaign But Mr. Cuomo was not left entirely unscathed. His personal contact information landed in one email, unredacted. And in November, when he was to present Mrs. Clinton with an award from the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, a national gun control group, “Don’t see a need to fully embrace the SAFE Act,” an aide wrote. “There are some controversial items in there.” (They settled on praising Mr. Cuomo’s push to expand background checks for gun buyers.) Even without full context, the emails make clear that Mr. de Blasio could be the target of some gentle mockery in the Clinton orbit. When Mr. Clinton’s chief of staff, Tina Flournoy, sent Mr. Podesta an important labor union’s questionnaire for presidential candidates in March 2015, Mr. Podesta’s mind apparently went straight to Mr. de Blasio, a reliable labor ally. “Bill de Blasio for President!!” Ms. Flournoy’s response, “Ha!”