Odd things happen when you're not running for President on a platform of competence, independence, and rising above all that sordid partisanship you say the country needs less of. Odd things such as, say, a New York Times story laying out in pitiless detail how you lavishly support the most reactionary, corrupt republicans you can find, the ones who are widely considered to be the biggest obstacles to progress and good government in their neighborhood.
Michael Bloomberg's appeal to Independents and Democrats, if this story gets out widely, is going to vanish. He's not as independent as he says he is. Just for starters, he's helping to block campaign finance reform in New York State, to the tune of a cool $750,000 since October of 2006. Gay marriage, too.
The ugly details over the fold.
The New York Times has the details, here:
At the same time that Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg has been traveling the country in recent weeks denouncing partisan politics, he has been quietly sending a very different message to the state’s Republican Party: I will continue to support the G.O.P. team.
On June 19, shortly before Mr. Bloomberg announced that he was leaving the Republican Party, he telephoned the state’s most powerful Republican, Joseph L. Bruno, the Senate majority leader.
The mayor wanted Mr. Bruno to know the announcement was coming. But Mr. Bloomberg, a major contributor to New York Republicans, also sought to reassure the majority leader that despite the change, he would still back Mr. Bruno and his Republican colleagues in the Senate.
"He will support us now, and as we go forward," Mr. Bruno said, describing the conversation. "His support is his support."
How important is Bloomberg's help for New York republicans?
Mr. Bloomberg’s support for Republican candidates is critical; the mayor has been the biggest individual donor to Senate Republicans, according to state campaign finance records, giving $575,000 since October. He also gave the New York State Republican Committee $175,000 in the same period. (During that time, by contrast, he did not donate to any Democrats in the Legislature.)
The republican state Senate is the same legislative body that refused to even consider the recently passed, groundbreaking gay marriage law that was passed by the State Assembly. It is also refusing to consider an Assembly bill, heralded as a breakthrough in good government, economic development, and a milestone in public-private partnerships, that would expand broadband connectivity to 85% of New York State. It is currently holding up campaign finance reform, a law to clean up brownfields, a law that would meaningfully promote renewable energy, another that would institute paid family leave, one more that would get junk food out of school vending machines, and while they're at it, the Senators have refused to confirm a total of 53 of Governor Spitzer's executive appointments to state agencies.
That's what Mike Bloomberg is supporting with over half a million dollars from his private checkbook. That's what he said he was going to continue to support.
Here's what the experts are saying, just as one example, about New York's campaign finance system:
"One of the worst campaign finance systems in the country" fuels special-interest influence and entrenches status quo (New York Times)
Individual contribution limit of $55,900 exceeds NYS median annual income by 120%
Unlimited "soft money" to political parties
Gaping loopholes allow circumvention of limits through LLCs
Little transparency and weak enforcement
Here's what Mike Bloomberg's friend Joe Bruno says about campaign finance reform:
"I laugh when I read that people gain access by their contributions. So what?"
Anyone who thinks that Mike Bloomberg is a moderate with a bi-partisan approach to solving problems needs to take a look at what he's doing at home. Mike Bloomberg is single-handedly holding back the reform of New York State. Mayor Moneybags, the great independent boy wonder, is paying the tab for holding back marriage equality, upstate economic development, a reform of a campaign finance system that breeds public corruption - Joe Bruno is currently under FBI investigation - and now, he's considering bringing that special charm of his to the rest of the nation.
Don't let him get away with it.