The Politicker

Bloomberg: An 'Outrage' to Suggest Albany Makes Political Decisions About Policy

At an appearance in Florida today--part of his campaign against illegal guns--Michael Bloomberg fielded an off-topic question from a reporter who asked if his recent contribution to Republicans in Albany would impact his state agenda--especially congestion pricing.

“Well, if it hurt the agenda of getting congestion pricing, think about what you’re saying. You’re saying that those decisions were made based on politics rather than what’s right for the city,” Bloomberg said.

He then reiterated how important congestion pricing is as a funding source for funding mass transit.

Returning to the topic of his contribution, Bloomberg said, “it would be an outrage for just anybody to suggest that that’s the basis on which they’re going to make decisions or that others would make a decision I find reprehensible.

"In terms of making a donation to help the Republicans, they’ve been there for us. I’ve said repeatedly I will help those who help us. They’ve stood up for the city a number of times when we needed to have a voice in Albany and didn’t have that voice from the Assembly, or from the governor, whether it’s the last governor or this governor. Now sometimes the Assembly and this governor and the last governor were with us, and we want more of that, and I’d like to encourage that.”

Bloomberg added, “I can tell that you the Republicans have been there for us in the last six years and for that I will support them.”

  • del.icio.us
  • Digg
  • Reddit
  • Newsvine
  • Google
  • Yahoo
  • Technorati
  • Facebook
  • Stumble Upon
  • Netvibes
  • Windows Live

Comments
Post a comment

Anonymous (not verified) says:

when the mayor says that he is going to defend State Senate Republicans from NYC, is he including Serphin Maltese? The same Serphin Maltese that backed Tom Ognibene in the Mayor's reelection run and tried to make life miserable for him???? Maltese backed a man that was clearly not qualified to be mayor because he felt that the mayor didnt genuflect before the Queens Republican Party. For that and many other reasons, Maltese should go down.

Anonymous (not verified) says:

“From a purely political standpoint, that was a bad calculation on his part and his operation. You should not go to a conference where you expect to get more votes out of that conference than another one, and simply say to them, ‘Well I’m going to spit in your face. I’m going to give the Republican conference this money so they can maintain the majority, but at the same time I’m going to tell you, we want you to put your reputation and your vote on the line, and I’m not going to do anything for you.’” —Malcolm Smith, on Inside City Hall, July 17, 20007, in between the formal deadline for congestion pricing and the deal which was passed.

Uh... Mr. Mayor?

Joe Blow (not verified) says:

Bloomberg said: You’re saying that those decisions were made based on politics rather than what’s right for the city.

Bloomberg sounds like a virgin who just wandered into a whorehouse!

Get real, Mike. Everything is political. You know that.

Post a comment

The content of this field is kept private
  • Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically.
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.
  • Allowed HTML tags: <a> <em> <strong> <cite> <code> <ul> <ol> <li> <dl> <dt> <dd><br> <p> <i> <b> <embed> <img> <blockquote> <span> <strikethrough> <u>
  • Use <!--pagebreak--> to create page breaks.

More information about formatting options

By checking this box you are giving permission for Observer staff to contact you to obtain contact information and permissions required for publication.