The City’s First Public Advocate Mayor

And the first rule of effective leadership is “summon to press conference about unrelated issue first, negotiate expired contracts later”:

Mr. de Blasio, a onetime grass-roots advocate, has moved into full organizing mode as he prepares for the start of the Albany legislative session. His event on Monday, in which he presented a united front with union officials, was only the latest in a string of news conferences that have doubled as rallies for the prekindergarten plan, and he has helped assemble a group of celebrity activists to aid his efforts.

On Monday, the mayor gestured toward the labor leaders — including the heads of powerful unions like the teachers’ and other city workers’ who will face his administration in contract talks this year — and said, “This is not something you see every day.”