No Interviews With Black - Except For The NY Post Gossip Columnist

They really are treating Cathie Black like the Bloombergian version of Harriet Miers - the White House counsel that Bush named to the Supreme Court but then had to pull back when it became apparent she might not be the best choice for the gig (and when conservatives screamed holy hell over the nomination.)

From what I remember, the Bush White House kept close wraps on Miers and sheltered her from the press while she was still the nominee.

They wanted to make sure she didn't make any mistakes early in the process.

Seems like the Bloomberg administration is doing the same with new NYC Schools Chancellor-In-Waiting Cathie Black:

The Department of Education isn’t granting any interviews with Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s chancellor appointee Cathie Black until she assumes office next month. But Black has given one short interview — to New York Post gossip columnist Cindy Adams.

The message is clear - Cathie with an "I" Black doesn't know much of anything about public education and the Bloomberg administration cannot allow her anywhere near a reporter who isn't a) on Rupert Murdoch's payroll and b) a freaking gossip columnist.

But she's going to run the largest school system in the nation even though Bloomberg clearly is afraid she won't make it through a fifteen minute interview with an education reporter without a mishap.

As Cindy Adams, the columnist who got the "interview" with Black would say, "Only in New York, kiddies, only in New York..."