Groundhog day — the coverup was worse than the crime

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio has groundhog blood on his hands. Specifically, the blood of “Staten Island Chuck,” New York City’s equivalent of Punxsutawney Phil.

The New York Post reports that a week after the left-wing mayor dropped Staten Island Chuck in front of a crowd of spectators on Ground Hog Day, the winter-weather prognosticator died. The groundhog was found dead at the Staten Island Zoo on Feb. 9.

A necropsy determined that the cause of death was “acute internal injuries.” Being dropped from six feet can do that to a groundhog.

The coverup began immediately. According to the Post:

Instead of revealing the sad loss, the zoo — which gets nearly half of its $3.5 million in annual funding from the city — told the staff to keep the mayor’s office in the dark about the animal’s fate.

They told only a few zoo supporters — but claimed that the groundhog had died of natural causes.

But the coverup ran deeper than that:

The zoo also never revealed the biggest secret of all — that the part of Chuck was being played by Charlotte. Chuck was benched because the zoo feared he could bite de Blasio, as he did Mayor Michael Bloomberg in 2009.

The zoo doesn’t make public that it has stand-in groundhogs to protect the “groundhog brand,” insiders said.

Somehow it doesn’t seem to work out between New York mayors and groundhogs. Even so, the same photo op is scheduled for 2015. This time, the zoo plans to use the daughter of the unfriendly Chuck and the unfortunate Charlotte.

To be clear, de Blasio does not appear to have a party to the coverup. His only sin was bad hands. If he participates next year, he will also be guilty of bad judgment.

Here is the video of de Blasio’s Groundhog’s Day fumble:

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