A Fiscally Responsible Progressive



Today Bill de Blasio sought to refine his fiscal self-description to “fiscally responsible progressive.”  Speaking on Friday to business leaders at an ABNY breakfast, de Blasio described himself as a “fiscal conservative.”  That description was a surprise to some, but it goes to de Blasio’s possible electoral vulnerability of being portrayed as a wild-eyed spendthrift.  When I asked de Blasio about his “fiscal conservative” self-characterization today, he responded with the refined term and offered a lengthy description of how achieving his goals will require fiscal responsibility, saying that there’s “no contradiction between good fiscal management and an activist government.”