Mayor Michael Bloomberg today addressed the controversy surrounding his whereabouts during the December blizzard, after the Wall Street Journal published a story today that essentially confirms that he was in Bermuda during the storm.

The mayor reiterated that where he goes when he does not have a public schedule is private and that he is not required to disclose his whereabouts.

“The mayor has to be able to have a private life and not disclose where he is,” said Bloomberg. “We’ve set up a policy day one, we’re going to tell you whenever there’s a public event. And I can guarantee you the mayor is always in control and there are always people here. Even if the mayor wasn’t in contact, there’s an executive order that lays it out clearly who’s in charge.”

As part of an exhaustive review of the federal records for Bloomberg’s private planes, the Journal reports one of the mayor’s planes left for Bermuda at 9 a.m. on Christmas Day. That plane returned to New York at 2:49 pm on December 26th.

The Journal says that return flight to LaGuardia was the last private plane allowed into LaGuardia before it was forced to shut down because of the storm.

The mayor made a public appearance a short time later.

Bloomberg said that he has never deputized anyone to be mayor while he was away.

He said that he pays for lodging and food for the police escort whenever he is traveling for personal reasons.

Bloomberg went on to say that there will be no compromise on legislation that is making its way through the City Council that would require the mayor to notify the City Clerk whenever he leaves the city.

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(Source: NY1)