THE big chill has set in between Mayor Bloomberg and Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum.
The two were once so close that Bloomberg helped Gotbaum raise funds two years ago for her campaign and personally pitched in $4,500.
When she was elected, Gotbaum made it clear her agenda didn’t include attacks on the mayor – just the opposite.
“My job is to be your partner, not adversary, in your work to make a better life for New Yorkers,” Gotbaum declared in her inaugural speech Jan. 1.
But the era of good feelings was over when Gotbaum appeared at a June 4 rally with hip-hop stars outside City Hall demanding a contract for teachers.
Bloomberg hit the roof.
“She was pandering to the teachers,” charged one administration official.
A few weeks ago, Bloomberg announced plans to change the line of succession at City Hall so that a deputy mayor – instead of the public advocate – takes over if the mayor can’t serve.
Gotbaum was cut out without a word. She didn’t get a heads-up that the mayor intended to rush through a Charter Revision Commission this November to enact the change.
“Such a commission can’t be put together by one man and his close friends,” Gotbaum responded later in a stinging press release.
Some insiders wonder if the relationship between the two fractured last year, when Bloomberg was running for mayor as a Republican and asked Gotbaum to abandon Democratic running mate Mark Green and endorse him or stay neutral.
She declined.
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Charles Barron, the most radical Democrat on the City Council, has had his share of run-ins with his Republican colleagues.
During this week’s council session, Barron announced he was taking a weeklong vacation.
“You’ll have to find a way to go forward in my absence,” he twitted the Republicans.
James Oddo, the Republican leader, promptly strode over and handed Barron a credit card.
“Take two weeks,” suggested Oddo.
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Corporation Counsel Michael Cardozo advised the mayor privately not to rush through a referendum in November to change the line of succession and impose nonpartisan elections.
“He had reservations,” said one source.
Bill Cunningham, the mayor’s communications director, said the mayor decided to proceed because the issues have been in the public arena since 1999 and did not need lengthier study.