Fat cats searching for next mayor

At charity balls and board meetings, on putting greens and in telephone conversations, New York’s corporate titans are on the hunt: Michael R. Bloomberg will end his reign as mayor in 18 months, and they are desperate to find someone from their ranks to take his place.

Business Leaders Seek a New C.E.O. for City Hall

The executives searching for Mr. Bloomberg’s replacement are considered some of New York’s most influential business leaders: Martin Lipton, a founding partner of the law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz; the financier Steven Rattner; and Jerry I. Speyer, chairman of the developer Tishman Speyer.

They have told colleagues that Mr. Bloomberg’s financial independence, his lack of party affiliation and his corporate, by-the-numbers approach to management have created a golden age of New York City government that none of his would-be successors seem poised to reproduce.

Business leaders, of course, have a vested interested in recruiting one of their own, like Mr. Bloomberg, to run for mayor. The Bloomberg administration is considered an ally to many corporations, especially developers. Rezoning projects under his watch have opened large swaths of the city to new construction. And Mr. Bloomberg travels in the same orbit as many of the city’s elite; he goes to their functions and they to his; he gives to their causes and they reciprocate.

Photo by Laphoto1 on Flickr