Mayor-Elect Bill de Blasio announces Anthony Shorris as first deputy mayor during a press conference Wednesday.
Credit: John Moore/Getty Images
Mayor-Elect Bill de Blasio announced Wednesday that Anthony Shorris, vice president of NYU Langone Medical Center, will serve as first deputy mayor in his administration.
Shorris, who has also served in the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and the city’s Office of Management and Budget, will be the second-highest ranking official in City Hall as first deputy mayor, de Blasio said.
“I don’t think I know anyone who has this range of experience and achievement and will be able to work with all elements of the government seamlessly,” de Blasio said of Shorris.
Shorris began his City Hall service in 1978 during the Koch admnistration. As first deputy mayor, he will oversee all city agencies and administrators apart from the still-unnamed police commissioner and schools chancellor.
De Blasio said he wanted to “re-conceptualize” the role of deputy mayor. As first deputy mayor, de Blasio said Shorris would be the primary means through which he will run the city. He would also be in change when de Blasio leaves town, which he said would be public.
Shorris emphasized the importance of some of de Blasio’s signature policies, including ending the overuse of stop-and-frisk by police, increasing affordable housing and transforming the city’s education system.
“This is our moment and I am profoundly excited to have a chance to support this mayor and his team,” Shorris said.
Dominic Williams, who worked on President Barack Obama’s campaign before joining the Public Advocate’s Office in 2012, was named chief of staff to Shorris. Williams was most recently de Blasio’s chief of staff in the Public Advocate’s Office, where he was “indispensable” to de Blasio, the mayor-elect said.
De Blasio named longtime aide Emma Wolfe as director of intergovernmental affairs, saying she will work with elected officials from City Council to Congress. Wolfe most recently served as the deputy campaign manager and political director for de Blasio, as well as the public advocate’s chief of staff.
“I guarantee I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for her,” de Blasio said Wednesday.
De Blasio said he and his team were still vetting multiple candidates for two of the most anticipated positions yet to be announced, police commissioner and schools chancellor.
“When it’s fully cooked is when we announce a position,” he said.
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