DNAinfo New York
NEW YORK CITY — Chicago's politics can be maddening, but the Chicago Tribune's former social media editor just found New York's can be bad for your health.
Scott Kleinberg left the Tribune in May to be the social media director for New York's freshman Mayor Bill de Blasio.
But he quit this week and put up a scathing Facebook post saying he did it to save his "health and sanity." He added he worked in an office full of "political hacks plus a boss who just couldn't get it."
Kleinberg was announced as City Hall's new social media director in a May 3 memo that boasted that he and his team would "infuse personality and engagement into the social media channels for the Office of the Mayor and City government as a whole."
Just eight weeks later, Kleinberg said he was out.
"Well, that was fast," he wrote on Facebook Tuesday night. "I moved to NYC for a dream job and that's not what I got.
"I tried to stick it out, but it was impossible," he continued. "I don't even know the word quit, but for the sake of my health and my sanity, I decided I needed to do just that. Now, for the first time in my life, I'm unemployed... I've learned a lot in the past several weeks, including something I've ignored in many a fortune cookie: If something seems too good to be true, it probably is."
Kleinberg did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment.
De Blasio's press office wished him well ... kind of.
"New York City government is a tough, fast-paced job that is not for everyone," Andrea Hagelgans, head of de Blasio's communications team, said in a statement. "We wish him well."
Kleinberg's former colleagues at the Tribune credited him with building the outlet's social media presence, and posted in droves on his Facebook post suggesting potential job connections and assuring him things would look up.
"I'm sure it's impossible for someone of your caliber, with your work ethic and honesty, to survive in a sea of cut-throat political hacks," one friend commented.
Kleinberg responded with thanks, adding, "I ended up with political hacks plus a boss who just couldn't get it. It was a bad combination for sure."
Another wrote that he was impressed Kleinberg had stay with the job as long as he did, adding, "It clearly was not as advertised."
A third commented, "Well, you are not the only one to be disappointed with our mayor's office."
One commenter mentioned that she noticed he hadn't been posting as much, and Kleinberg informed her that was because "there hasn't been time and because I couldn't post anything without getting it approved."
"Crazy but true," he wrote. "Just one of the many things wrong with everything.""
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