New York Mayor Bloomberg to spend more than $100 million to secure third term

The reelection campaign of New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is on course to spend well over $100 million, setting a new record for any local race.

Bloomberg has already spent $65 million of his own money on this campaign, according to the New York Times. Official financial disclosure data released last week shows that the billionaire mayor has paid out $22 million for television ads in the last few months, along with $10 million on campaign mailings, which have been inundating voters’ mailboxes for some time now.

There is still a month to go before Election Day. Four years ago Bloomberg spent nearly half of his total during the same period. If he maintains that pace, the sum will be a record-setting $117 million.

This is only a small fraction—about 0.7 percent to be more precise—of Bloomberg’s estimated net worth of $16 billion. It is 16 times as much, however, as the $3.8 million spent by Bloomberg’s Democratic opponent, City Comptroller William C. Thompson. Thompson, whose party supposedly has the support of four out of every five New York City voters, has only a few million dollars left. In the month of September he raised the grand total of $114,000, which is about as much as Bloomberg has been spending every two hours.

Although he is leading in the polls, Bloomberg has reasons to be concerned. He is running for a third term in the midst of the greatest economic crisis in generations. Millions of working people are angry and anxious over the conditions they face and their future and are increasingly directing their ire at Wall Street, with which the mayor and his fortune are closely identified. There is also the issue of Bloomberg’s hypocritical and dishonest maneuvers last year to overturn the city’s term limits legislation twice upheld by voters in citywide referendums...

The mayor was apparently thinking of making an end run around term limits as early as February 2008. He commissioned a public opinion poll that spring that suggested that a move to overturn previous ballots in favor of term limits would go down to defeat. So instead of taking the issue to the voters, Bloomberg bided his time, waiting until the eruption of the financial crisis in September of 2008 to announce that he felt compelled to stay on as mayor because he was uniquely qualified to confront the economic emergency...

Having waited until less than two months before the general election—in which a large turnout would assure the defeat of a ballot initiative overturning term limits—Bloomberg insisted that there was no time to organize such a referendum, and instead turned to the City Council seeking legislation allowing him, as well as other city officials, a one-time pass on term limits. As this gave incumbent City Council members facing the end of their terms a chance to keep their jobs, it was not difficult to pull together a majority vote for the measure...

Bloomberg’s quest for a third term exposes a political system in which plutocratic rule is less and less disguised. The super-rich prefer increasingly to hold the reins of power directly rather than through political representatives who must make an attempt to win the support of broader masses of the population.

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2009/oct2009/bloo-o07.shtml

If you look up "arrogant scum" in the dictionary, I'm sure his picture will be there. The Democrat cum Republican cum Independent "whatever-it-takes-for-me-to-buy power". I have hopes that the poor & ex-middle-class of NY will boot his ass out even if he's running against an idiot. His money, power & arrogance have already degraded that city in ways that won't be measured completely for a generation. He is completely disgusting.:puke:

as a perk of being mayor. People like him don't spend that kind of money unless they expect a much larger return.

overturning the term limits officially made him dictator of NYC. The election has already been bought. :puke:

instead of the history of their leadership.

love them billionaire dictators!

nothing like open graft!

what the hell is with the unrecs. Apparently there plenty of DUers who find democratic election an antiquated notion.

edited to clarify

The idea of that much $ for a mayor's seat is obscene, not the OP.

He's very popular and is running against a nobody. I don't know why he's running negative ads against Thompson, but it's unnecessary.

as the voters had put term limits into effect. He steamrolled the City Council into disposing of the pesky voter desires in order to run yet again.

I wouldn't care if a circus clown was running against Bloomberg. I'd vote for the circus clown.

Fortunately, I won't have to.

Mr. Thompson is the current comptroller for the city. Not exactly nobody.

I'm pretty sure that I haven't seen a single ad for Thompson and there is no hype in general. I haven't even received a generic email from the party (or anyone else) asking for support.

without seeing at least two Bloomberg ads during that time.

k&r

Ah well, I guess it's his money to burn.

He's been a total disaster running and ruining the public school system in the city. Joel Klein, the chancellor and Bloomberg flunky, and a non-educator, is arguably the worst superintendent in the entire United States.