The reason for Bratton’s departure? Pick your favorite!

It’s been over a week, but bochinche-loving insiders are still buzzing about Bill Bratton's sudden announced departure from the NYPD.

Frankly, I don’t get what all the fuss and bochinche is about. Over a year ago – on July 23, 2015 to be exact – Commissioner Bratton announced it first to City & State at a Newsmakers breakfast forum: “I will not be commissioner for six and a half years. That’s the reality. I’ll be 75 years old by that time,” Bratton told City & State President and CEO Tom Allon.

But the commissioner’s recent official announcement has left bochincheros’ tongues blabbing away.

One political insider tells us that Rikki Klieman – the well-known attorney and CBS commentator and wife of Bratton – has been heard around town talking about how little respect she has for Mayor Bill de Blasio.

Another source shared that he overheard Klieman’s not-too-discrete complaints about the investigation-engulfed “progressive” mayor at a recent dinner party in Manhattan. Implication being that Klieman’s pillow talk finally convinced her hubby that it was time to go out on top.

The buzz is imaginative. Another bochinche is that Bratton wants to get out of Dodge before a certain U.S. Attorney starts handing out indictments to de Blasio administration members this Fall. Oy vey!

Will Somos fall to Zika in San Juan?

Over the past couple of months the buzz that was impacting me the most was news of the Zika virus hitting my native island of Puerto Rico so hard that New York Latino leaders were starting to raise concerns about going ahead with the annual Somos fall conference, which has always been held in San Juan.

When I asked Assemblyman Marcos Crespo about the bochinche back in May, the chairman of the New York State Puerto Rican/Hispanic Task Force, which oversees Somos, texted me the following response: "As for PR we’re still moving forward. We're putting together and will be sending out updated info on Zika and trying to coordinate activities that address this concern, but the contract prevents us from a simple cancellation and also Zika is in the US also so moving the conference to Orlando doesn't address that fear.”

I followed up with him recently and he responded: “As of now, yes we are in... We have listed Zika advisories on our website along the registration info and discussed the possibility of cancelling but as of now we're moving forward.”

Here’s the link to the Somos site: www.somosnewyork.org

Amigos, I suggest you start loading up on the mosquito repellent!

Mayor Ray Kelly?

One bochinchero assures me that if Mayor de Blasio gets indicted on any of the seven investigations currently underway and resigns to focus on his defense instead of his re-election bid in 2017, there could be a pathway to the mayoralty for Ray Kelly.

Don’t laugh! There's been “Kelly for Mayor” buzz since I had a full head of hair. Remember 2013? He said then he wasn't interested. But he was.

The New York City Charter requires the Public Advocate to assume the office of the mayor in circumstances when the mayor cannot serve. Don’t believe me? Take a look at that section of the charter.

So, the way this bochinche could play out is that in an open election, Tish James would run as the incumbent mayor, and we could also expect Comptroller Scott Stringer, Bronx Borough President Rubén Díaz Jr., Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams and a few other eager Democrats to throw their names into the race.

That’s when some very wealthy white neoyorquinos would put their money behind the 74-year-old former NYPD commissioner – who, by the way, is in very good physical health and mentally sharp.

“Kelly is good to serve a full term,” said the insider political operative. When you think you’ve heard it all, someone is bound to surprise you.

As we say in Spanish, it's all bochinche until it happens.