Bloomberg, Skelos and Millions of Dollars
Michael Bloomberg didn’t deny a published report that he was approached by Republican State Senate Leader Dean Skelos, who told him Republicans need $10 million to hold onto their two-seat majority in that house.
“I have no idea what it costs to run a Senate race or State Assembly race,” Bloomberg said when asked about it at a press conference in Foley Square this morning. “I can tell you what it costs to run a mayoral campaign. I’ve been through two of them.”
He went on to say that political races are expensive, and that “[a] lot of democracy has degenerated into fund-raising.”
Bloomberg already gave $500,000 to the Republican Party to help them keep their majority. The $10 million price tag is twice as much as Republican billionaire Tom Golisano is saying he'll spend to support candidates from all parties this fall.
Mark Hansen, a spokesman for Skelos, told me, “I don’t know where the story came from and I couldn’t comment on it.”
Hey Mike, I've got a counter proposal. Help Golisano knock the Republicans out of power in the State Senate. Hopefully without a source of patronage, all those Republicans for whom it is just about patronage will disappear. Maybe they'd be a lot of retirements in the state legislature.
Then you and Golisano and whoever else spend a little more money to get some people who are a decent elected to take their place in the special elections. You know, find some people really believe what the Republicans are supposed to believe, and have something on the ball, and help them get on the ballot. And, make sure you both run lots of Republican candidates for party office in 2010.
In this state, it would be great if there was one party that had any principles at all, so even if I didn't agree with it, I could respect it. Two or more would be better, but right now, the GOP is our best shot. But only if the entire current generation of leadership is wiped out.