Mayor de Blasio's newly-hired social media director took to Facebook to announce he had quit on Tuesday, just two months after his May start date. Scott Kleinberg, who came to the mayor's office from a social media gig at The Chicago Tribune, commented bluntly on his Facebook wall that, "I ended up with political hacks plus a boss who just couldn't get it."
Kleinberg's use of the word 'hacks' elicited considerable social media attention this week, as the 43-year-old was hired to work for a Mayor who this spring became the subject of a handful of investigations into his fundraising tactics, led by U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara in conjunction with the FBI, as well as Comptroller Scott Stringer's office and the State Attorney General's office. The Daily News notes that Kleinberg's direct boss was Rob Bennett, head of creative communications.
Kleinberg, 43, was hired to "infuse personality and engagement" into Mayor de Blasio's social media channels, according to a press release dated May 3rd. Sources told the Daily News that he arrived at City Hall with a set of pillows monogrammed with the logos for Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
"Well, that was fast," Kleinberg wrote in his public post (since deleted, but captured by the News). "I moved to NYC for a dream job and that's not what I got. I tried to stick it out, but it was impossible. I don't even know the word quit, but for the sake of my health and my sanity, I decided I needed to do just that."
Kleinberg went on to ask for job leads in New York, touting his skills as a social media manager, director, consultant, and columnist—arguably not the most impressive display of social media savvy or prudence.
A statement from City Hall following Kleinberg's departure was short on sympathies. "New York City government is a tough, fast-paced job that is not for everyone," a mayoral spokesperson said. "We wish him well."
The dramatic exit comes on the heels of former-press secretary Karen Hinton's departure from City Hall, after about a year on the job. Hinton exited with less of a bang: The Mayor praised her hard work in a statement, and insiders assured that her decision had nothing to do with her increasingly turbulent work environment.
Also this week, the NY Times reports that Maya Wiley, Mayor de Blasio's chief legal advisor, will resign in July for a post as chairwoman of the Civil Complaint Review Board, an independent agency that investigates allegations of police misconduct.
An anonymous source "familiar with her thinking" told the paper that Wiley felt left out of the Mayor's inner circle. One of her final tasks as legal advisor was to pull together a response to investigators' requests for documents, including e-mails between the mayor and advisors outside City Hall.
It was Wiley who first described said advisors as "agents of the city," an eyebrow-raising designation that protected their e-mails from scrutiny, seemingly, just because.