Michael Bloomberg drew some fire last week for donating $500,000 to state Senate Republicans just as Eliot Spitzer is trying to help Democrats take over the Senate.

A minor-but-interesting side-detail about that working relationship: As late as 2006, the New York State Senate Republican Campaign Committee was paying thousands of dollars in consulting fees to the firm Penn, Schoen & Berland, which was co-founded by Hillary Clinton’s top strategist Mark Penn.  read more »

Last week, I wrote a story about Mark Penn, Hillary Clinton's pollster and close political advisor, and his former business associates. As I noted earlier, Penn is suing his former business partner Michael Berland, and several other former employees of their company, Penn, Schoen & Berland, for setting up a rival consulting company, allegedly in violation of a non-compete clause in their contracts. Berland and the other defendants are accused of trying to woo away Penn's corporate clients, but the suit also has political implications, because Berland and another recently departed partner, Doug Schoen, have worked for Michael Bloomberg before, and would presumably be on board for a presidential campaign should the mayor decide to run. That is, if the non-compete clause allows them to.

(More after the jump.)  read more »

The pollster who worked for Mike Bloomberg during his 2001 and 2005 campaigns would, presumably, have been the logical candidate to play the same roll on the mayor's oft-imagined presidential campaign.

Schoen has a "no compete" clause with the firm, meaning he won't be available to crunch numbers for Bloomberg (or any other candidate) if the mayor's presidential fancy ever becomes reality.

FURTHER UPDATE: An informed source notes that Berland may have a similar no-compete clause, taking him out of consideration. (Penn is a pollster for Hillary.)