Ed Skyler says there is nothing supernatural about his ability to oversee and manage over 15 massive city agencies.

“I’m not in some magical room with all these different buttons,” said Skyler, who recently was promoted to deputy mayor of operations following the resignation of Dan Doctoroff as deputy mayor of economic development. “It really is more sort of an oversight job to make sure the agencies are performing up to the mayor’s expectations.”

There is a lot of oversight to do. With the restructuring of the administration, which followed Doctoroff’s announced departure, Skyler now directly oversees the departments of Transportation, Environmental Protection and Buildings, the Taxi and Limousine Commission and the Mayor’s Office of Long-Term Planning and Sustainability. He will continue to manage the Police Department, Fire Department and offices of Emergency Management, Management and Budget and Labor Relations, and to directly oversee the departments of Sanitation and Citywide Administrative Services, Office of Contract Services, the Criminal Justice Coordinator and the Office of Special Enforcement.

At 34, the native Manhattanite is the youngest senior member of the administration and the youngest ever to hold the title of deputy mayor. But to him, that is just a reflection of his tireless work ethic over eight years coming into his own professionally under the wing of Michael Bloomberg. But he does not like to be called a wunderkind.

“People know that I’m here because I earned it,” he said in a recent interview at City Hall. “I don’t think I’ve gotten this amazing job because I plotted it out 12 years ago.”

Skyler’s rapid rise in city government began in 1995, working for legendary Parks Department Commissioner Henry Stern.
“This is a guy who started at the bottom in an entry level position,” said Stern, “and he worked his way up and received six promotions.”

Four years later—and after Stern had blessed him with the nickname “Young Skylark”—Skyler was appointed deputy press secretary to then-Mayor Rudolph Giuliani (R). Two years later, he left to join corporate communications at Bloomberg LP, the future mayor’s financial media company. A year later, he was the campaign’s press secretary, shepherding the first-time candidate through a rollercoaster election and the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks. When Bloomberg won, he made Skyler his press secretary.

In that job, he quickly earned the reputation among reporters as the mayor’s pit bull. Standing, he is well over six feet tall, thin but intimidating with thick eyebrows and a stern, unflinching expression. He would literally run interference for the 5’6” Bloomberg.

He cursed out one reporter on camera, threw a napkin in another’s face and allegedly intimidated a union worker who questioned the mayor at a press conference about a ticket his wife received.

That was a long time ago. After Bloomberg won re-election in 2005, Skyler, who was by then communications director, was promoted to deputy mayor. “Beneath the radar, Ed is the smartest and most important person in city government,” said Kevin Sheekey, deputy mayor of governmental operations.

Though he is the third-ranking member of the administration these days, Skyler says his current job allows him to take a more measured, relaxed approach.

“The pressure of being press secretary, you’re in this 24-7 environment where you never really know what’s happening, you have to be on your toes and every second of the day something can go pretty horribly wrong,” he said, sitting at a long oak table in City Hall’s press offices with his Blackberry resting silently in his lap.
“The pressure you’re under as a deputy mayor,” he said, “it’s less compressed.”

William Cunningham, who was the communications director for Bloomberg’s 2001 campaign and first term, said that Skyler’s steady rise was a reflection of his ambition, dedication and reluctance to let himself be held back by his youth.

“You can disagree with Ed, you could argue with Ed,” Cunningham said, “but he never let his age get in the way of giving you his honest opinion.”

In addition to the many departments he charged Skyler with overseeing, Bloomberg also gave Skyler management of his prized PlaNYC when Doctoroff left, rather than assigning it to Doctoroff’s successor, Robert Lieber. 

Skyler said that those responsibilities fit well with the rest of his portfolio.

“The mayor recognizes it’s a citywide effort that touches every agency,” Skyler said of PlaNYC. “Centralizing it where a lot of other core functions are centralized makes sense because it’s part of everyone’s agenda.”

He has also been charged with the sensitive task of recovering remains at Ground Zero, which he said has slowed down since rebuilding has begun in earnest. He is working with the City Council to develop a new emergency notification plan in the wake of the Deutsch Bank fire. He assisted the mayor in developing a plan to reduce the number of parking permits issued to city employees. And he is overseeing the consolidation of 911 systems for all the city’s emergency services.

“That encompasses technology issues, labor issues, budget issues, coordination issues, space issues, real estate,” he said of the 911 consolidation. “There’s a lot going on.”

He is also said to be a key player in formulating strategy for Bloomberg’s rumored third-party presidential campaign, which Skyler and other aides adamantly deny exists.

With the city and state budgets coming out soon, legislation to negotiate with City Council members and the mayor’s solid waste management plan to finalize, Skyler says he has better things to do than work on a presidential campaign.

“You can’t afford to take your eye off the ball for anything,” he said. “And the more responsibilities you have, the more eyes you need to keep on the ball.”
Skyler has no time to worry about his future after Bloomberg leaves office in 2009, but Sheekey said he may defy everyone’s expectations.

“He probably will do something radically different,” Sheekey said. “He might even go into the movie business.”

At meetings with the mayor and the other deputies, Skyler said he does not shrink from offering his unfettered opinion.

But when he and Bloomberg do not see eye-to-eye, Skyler said he always defers to the mayor’s authority.

“There’s no room for personal agendas,” he said. “My agenda is his agenda.”