Now a Groundhog Murderer is running for President of the United States Mayor de Blasio’s aides scratched and clawed to keep him from being labeled a groundhog killer after The Post revealed that one of the critters had secretly died after Hizzoner accidentally dropped it, according to newly released e-mails. The e-mails show that the mayor’s then-press secretary, Phil Walzak tussled with reporters over whether de Blasio was responsible for the death of the Staten Island Zoo’s weather-predicting groundhog in 2014. Although the groundhog fell out of the mayor’s hands, Walzak insisted the animal was not “dropped.” “Oh please how can a reasonable, rational viewer watch that and ignore the squirming and writhing of the animal as it is placed into the mayor’s hands?” Walzak wrote in one feisty exchange with New York Times editorial-board member Lawrence Downes. “The only thing I care abt is people saying mayor killed groundhog . . . which is not true!” Walzak wrote to another media member. The Post reported in September 2014 that Staten Island Chuck had been replaced earlier that year. At the February 2014 ceremony, the imposter groundhog — Charlotte — was dropped by the mayor and secretly died a week later. The e-mail exchanges between City Hall and reporters were posted online Monday by the Web site MuckRock. https://nypost.com/2017/08/14/de-blasio-staffers-scrambled-to-save-face-after-mayor-killed-groundhog/ Mayor Bill de Blasio has groundhog blood on his hands! A week after Hizzoner dropped Staten Island Chuck in front of a crowd of spectators on Feb. 2, the winter-weather prognosticator died of internal injuries — and then the coverup began, The Post has learned. Staten Island Zoo officials went to great lengths to hide the death from the public — and keep secret the fact that “Chuck” was actually “Charlotte,” a female impostor, sources said Wednesday. The stand-in was found dead in her enclosure at the Staten Island Zoo on Feb. 9 — and a necropsy determined she died from “acute internal injuries,” sources said. She had fallen nearly 6 feet when the mayor lost his grip during the Groundhog Day photo op. Sources said her injuries were consistent with a fall. 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. “I was told he died of old age, that he went to that big farm in the sky,” said Assemblyman Matthew Titone (D-SI), who later learned how the animal had died. 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. A zoo spokesman tried to downplay the mayor’s role in the critter’s death, saying the animal was examined and seemed fine. “It appears unlikely that the animal’s death is related to the events on Groundhog Day,” the spokesman said. The mayor’s office learned of the death for the first time from The Post. “We were unaware that Staten Island Chuck had passed but are sorry to hear of the loss,” said spokesman Phil Walzak. The zoo plans to pull the same groundhog switcheroo next year by using the groundhog couple’s young daughter — also named Charlotte — in the role of Chuck, zoo sources said. https://nypost.com/2014/09/25/groundhog-dropped-by-de-blasio-died-of-internal-injuries/