The New York Connection

Tuesday, October 18, 2005


Bloomberg Sings My Way

There's an interesting article in the Times about Bloomberg's management style. I've heard a lot about this from various people. This article does a nice job of giving you a bit of insight into who this guy is and what he thinks about politics. While he is considered a 'liberal' by his friends, he's more just a rich guy who is personally generous and trusts his instincts unerringly.

Like a lot of billionaires, Bloomberg basically thinks that politics is dirty, and it frustrates him that there are so many conflicting interests. As an officeholder, he shows that this irritation dictates his management style. His money gives him freedom, true, but it also deprives him of essential pressure that allows a Mayor to do a good job.

One city councilman, Charles Barron, learned that when he tried to negotiate with the mayor over the 2003 budget and argued that the mayor should reverse plans to reduce the number of city firehouses.

Mr. Bloomberg, frustrated by the haggling, shouted angrily that he did not care, using colorful language, "if you vote for my budget or not," Mr. Barron recalled in an interview. "I think he has a real thin veil once you push his button. Remember, he's a C.E.O. used to having his way."

Mr. Bloomberg said that he remembered the conversation differently but that he had found the negotiation process in politics much different from that of the business world. "In business, not with everybody but generally, the objective is to get something done that you're talking about," he said. "Here it's more horse trading. The issues tend to be, 'I'll vote for this if you give me something that's totally unrelated.' The discussion is not about the merits of the particular subject."

"It disappointed me," he said.


I can just hear it now - we should run government like a business. The thing is, government is not a business. Businesses are supposed to make money, governments are to supposed to protect and promote the public. That means dealing with the public, with all its guts and glory, and not sticking to only what's on your mind.

Yet the mayor has been forced to adapt. During the battle over the stadium, the administration offered Sheldon Silver, the speaker of the State Assembly, a huge array of goodies for his district - a new school, new parks, new tax incentives for businesses in his area - in a failed bid to get support for the plan.

And his critics tend to object to his claims of being apolitical, noting, for instance, his new, election-year opposition to a freight tunnel that is woefully unpopular in a politically important area of Maspeth, Queens. He had previously called its financing "a priority."


Let me just say that I agree with the mayor's critics. It's not apolitical. It is however incompetent politics.

Still, even now the mayor sees himself as something of a stranger to the political scene.

"Keep in mind, I'm not the average officeholder at the mayoral level or any other level," Mr. Bloomberg said during the interview. "I'm not beholden to anybody; I didn't take any money. I had a freedom, I think, to go and to do things my way."


Thank God Bloomberg doesn't have to listen to the people and can do whatever he wants. Ok, that last bit is a little nasty, but really, the point is that absolute freedom for an elected official is only good for people who have perfect instincts and don't need to listen to other people. And no one has perfect instincts.

17 Comments:

At 8:57 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

"Why No Democrat Should Vote for Bloomberg"

Doesn't Bloomberg know that we have long memories? In his TV ads, he claims that "he is the Mayor who listens."

If you believe that, I have a bridge to sell you.

How well did he listen to the voices of 300,000 protesters furious at the GOP exploiting 9/11? He endoresed the GOP leadership for victory.

How well did he listen when he tried to stuff the Jets' stadium down our throats?

He listened with deaf ears; but we spoke out so loudly, with the help of the Straphangers Campaign, Hells Kitchen Alliance, State Senator Schneiderman and many others, that decision-makers couldn't help but hear us.

There are even more important reasons why we should not vote for Michael Bloomberg.

Michael Bloomberg has been extremely generous to the Republican Party.

A partial list of his munificence:

+to the New Republican Committee (NRC), he gave $5 million;
+to the Republican National State Elections Committee (Tom DeLay's organization), Bloomberg gave $250,000; the RNSEC went on to successfully gerrymander Texas' state districts, and thereby orchestrated a Republican stranglehold on the state's legislature;
+to the Republican National Committee, he gave
$25,000.
+for George Pataki, he has raised $13,000;
+for John McCain, he has raised $4,000;
+for Rudy Giuliani's political action committee, he has raised $5,000;
+for various Republican campaigns in our own state, he has been generous to the tune of $140,000;
+for George W. Bush, he donated $2,000.

But this might be the worst: Bloomberg's donations to two of the most conservative Republicans, Senator Richard Shelby of Alabama and Representative Harold Rogers of Kentucky.

The Christian Coalition bestowed Shelby with a favorable rating of 100% as compared to the League of Conservation Voters: 0%. On Economic issues he voted conservatively 57% of the time, on Social issues 81% and Foreign issues, 67%. Shelby voted against the ban on drilling in the Artic National Wildlife Refuge2; he voted for Bush's tax cuts, for banning late term abortion, and against the assault weapons ban.

To this arch conservative, Bloomberg donated $4,000.

Harold Rogers has a 92% favorable rating from the Christian Coalition as opposed to 5% from the ACLU. He voted with conservatives 79% of the time on Economic issues, 80% on social issues, and 68% on foreign policy issues. He also voted for drilling in ANWAN, for Bush's tax cuts for the rich; for the late-term abortion ban, and for restrictions on gun manufacturers' liability.

 
At 1:21 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

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At 6:57 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

since this is bloomberg's political experience is just shy of 4 years, it's no surprise that he's thumping his head alot during his on-the-job training...

the one thing that get's him the most, is not the money, the only thing he reacs to is public criticism. He avoids criticism, like the plague and works doublely hard to crush disent.

the media is now realizing his feet are made of clay and after november 8th, he's gonna enter his sophomore term in politics. things should get real interesting around the city....

great blog btw, if you get a chance, visit our webring www.truthonbloomberg.org

 
At 5:12 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

In this year of the Bloomberg advertising blitz, almost all of the mayor’s campaign commercials revolve around one central idea: that he is an apolitical guy doing a good practical job. But it’s not really that simple.

The old cliché about running city government is that there is no Democratic or Republican way to take out the garbage. But it’s not true. Just ask supporters of recycling or trash-burning incinerators, and check their party affiliations.

In this year’s mayoral race, sanitation is not an issue but there are some real substantive differences between the views of the Democrat and the Republican that deserve to be discussed, but are being mostly ignored. Here are five issues on which Mike Bloomberg and Freddy Ferrer disagree, and if you didn’t already know who the Democrat and Republican were, you could certainly tell:

1. Ferrer supports the new law to require decent health care coverage for workers at large grocery stores. The mayor vetoed the bill. City Council overrode him 40-2. The law is aimed at keeping out stores like Wal-Mart that hire lots of low-wage workers but provide less health coverage than other employers. The Mayor thinks it’s illegal for the city to regulate health benefits and that the marketplace should decide if Wal-Mart moves in.

2. Ferrer supported the new lead paint law, also vetoed by the mayor and enacted by a City Council ovverride. In that case, the mayor thinks the law costs too much money for too little extra protection for children’s health. Ferrer and the Council believe the science is on their side and that the mayor is being too soft on the landlords.

3. Ferrer wants more taxes on the rich – a stock transfer tax to fund education and a vacant residential land tax to fund affordable housing. Mayor Bloomberg rejects those taxes as trickle-down job-killers and inflation starters. But his property tax hike gave a direct hit to middle class homeowners.

4. Ferrer seems more inclined to help the city’s home health aides, who often work below the poverty line and get no health benefits of their own in the current privatized system. Mayor Bloomberg made a big show of turning down the aides request to be hired directly by the city. It’s one reason Ferrer got the endorsement of the health care workers union, 1199.

And 5. Ferrer supports mandatory inclusionary zoning. The mayor does not. Mandatory inclusionary zoning would require developers of expensive housing to make a certain percentage affordable. The mayor would rather negotiate with developers case by case.

Five issues, one pattern: Classically, the Republican, Mayor Bloomberg believes in less regulation on business to help the working class. The Democrat, Ferrer, believes in more. Decide for yourself which approach you prefer. But don’t tell me this race has no issues, or no parties.

 
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Hillary or Gore that is the question.

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