Bloomberg on Lawsuit, Spitzer's Outburst

In his first press conference since coming back from Europe, Bloomberg explained to reporters that he doesn’t run the media company he founded that’s now being sued for alleged discrimination, but he does run the city and that the governor shouldn’t tell him how to do that.

Bloomberg’s press conference in the Blue Room was to announce a new contract with city detectives. Afterwards, he took questions from reporters. The first was about the lawsuit against Bloomberg, L.P. for allegedly discriminating against pregnant employees.

Bloomberg said Bloomberg, L.P. is “a family-friendly company. I haven’t had anything to do with running it or any discussions about running it or any of their employment policies in a long time.” After praising them for recruiting and retaining top talent, Bloomberg said, “you’ll have to talk to them.”

Later, Bloomberg was asked to react to Spitzer saying the mayor was "dead wrong, factually wrong, legally wrong, morally wrong, ethically wrong," for opposing the governor’s plan to allow illegal immigrants to obtain driver’s licenses.

“As I said back then, I have some problems with this," Bloomberg said. "But it’s the governor’s call. And if there are some problems with it, we’ll just have to work it out. He’s the one who makes this decision. And he doesn’t tell me how to run the city, and I don’t tell him how to run the state. This is a state function.”