Thursday, March 4, 2010

Shocking news: Bloomberg bought his way to re-election

From the Daily News:

Mayor Bloomberg's money was able to buy more than just consultants, polls and advertising in his reelection campaign last year: It was able to buy silence.

The mysterious $750,000 shell company that ran his Election Day poll-watching operation was paid by the state Independence Party, using $1.2 million Bloomberg gave from his own pocket.

Not a penny of it was disclosed until January. All the headlines about how operative John Haggerty can't account for the $750,000 came out after the election was over.

Separately, a coalition of real estate interests also gave $750,000 to the state Independence Party to support City Council candidates.

None of that was disclosed at the time, either, back when voters could have seen which landlords were dropping $45,000 apiece on those candidates - and could have voted accordingly.

A year earlier, Bloomberg dropped another $1.2 million on the Independence Party just as he was pushing to extend term limits with a professional-grade operation that never explained how it was funded.

All those donations went to an Independence Party account that reports its doings only in January and July - and is only supposed to be used for "ordinary activities," not "promoting the candidacy of specific candidates."

The law is flimsy, though, and Bloomberg and party officials believe it was porous enough to soak up the cash without penalty.

Critics say they broke the law, but since the donations were reported to the notoriously toothless State Board of Elections, don't expect a robust probe to find out who's right.

8 comments:

Cherokeesista said...

Everything you do in the dark, will come to light one day:) Just a matter of time!!

Anonymous said...

Really? And I thought money didn't buy elections. So much for the Federal election campaign act. Then again he used his own private money from his squeaky clean news corp.right? Or was it the other front groups also buried with bloomberg stock money like the NYC TV deal.

Anonymous said...

The law may be "porous" enough for Bloomberg to escape penalty, but does it allow for one's operatives to buy houses with the "leftover" "non-campaign" funds?

Anonymous said...

Media capital of the world my ass.

So who is going to write a book about this bum - and expose those among our elite who could have worked to stop this?

Anonymous said...

Bloomberg Bone Cancer 2010. Join the Movement.

Anonymous said...

This story of Mayor Moneybags buying a 3rd term is really no surprise. It was so obvious what he was doing. Then he had the help of his pet, Christine (Ms. piggy) Quinn to help him get that 3rd term. Both of them swore that they would not extend or do away with term limits...but they did anyways.

Missing Foundation said...

Look, the problem is not with the mayor or with Quinn - the problem is with us.

WE did not go after him.

WE did not support alternatives

WE did not go after the media for providing bullshit for news.

WE did not go after our local politicans for ignoring the public's wish.

So dear people....

WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO ABOUT IT?

(no bitching at someone you gave the advantage to is not an answer)

Adolf Bloomhitler said...

WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO ABOUT IT?


Heh Heh Heh Heh Heh Heh Heh