When Bloomberg leaves office, he will be taking the bully pulpit with him
Briefing: Bloomberg. Azi Paybarah via flickr
8:49 am Jun. 21, 2012
The last time he ran for re-election, Mayor Michael Bloomberg was asked by an NY1 reporter if there was "any guarantee" he wouldn't pursue a fourth term once he'd secured his third.
It wouldn't have been legal for Bloomberg to do so, of course, but his campaign for a third term had been forbidden, too, before he successfully pushed to change the term-limits law.
Bloomberg's lawyerly answer—"The law does not allow it," he said—drew some unflattering attention, and the following day Bloomberg said he thought the question was a joke.
As far as anyone can tell, Bloomberg really is planning to leave office after next year. But that doesn't mean he'll be quite ready to cede the public influence that the mayor's office has afforded him.
Michael Howard Saul reports in the Journal on Bloomberg's plan to announce the opening of a new office to help small businesses "navigate city bureaucracy," to be headed by a current aide to Bloomberg's deputy mayor for economic development. Saul calls it "a direct attempt to preserve some of his administration's policies after he leaves office," presumably because it will put a Bloomberg loyalist in a position to function as a watchdog and advocate for businesses when the next administration takes over.
The piece also notes that another Bloomberg aide, Micah Lasher, officially left the service of the mayor to run a pro-charter school organization that will act as a counterweight to the teachers union in the upcoming elections and, presumably, beyond.
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Events
Andrew Cuomo is in Albany with no public schedule.
10:30 a.m. State Senator and NY-13 congressional candidate Adriano Espaillat and Harlem residents discuss plans for job creation and economic development at 129th Street and Broadway in Manhattan.
5:30 p.m. Charter school critics release a report accusing the city's Department of Education of "separate but equal" practices in opening charter schools in Harlem, at the Frederick Douglas Statue at 110th Street and 8th Avenue in Manhattan.
6 p.m. Rep. Joe Crowley has a fund-raiser with an open bar and live music at Studio Square, 35-33 36th Street, in Long Island City. [Facebook]
6:30 p.m. City Councilwoman Letitia James has a "Summer Soiree" for her 2013 campaign at 130 East 57th Street, in Manhattan.
6:30 p.m. Mayor Michael Bloomberg attends "Make Music New York" at the Dairy Lawn, Fifth Avenue and 64th Street in Manhattan.
7 p.m. Democratic State Senate candidate Andrew Gounardes, who is challenging Republican Marty Golden, will be at Lonbow Pub & Pantry at 7316 Third Avenue in Brooklyn. [Facebook]
7 p.m. City Councilman Ruben Wills has a "Public Safety Town Hall" meeting with members of the NYPD and other organizations at 111-05 Sutphin Boulevard in Queens. [Facebook]
NY-06
Republican Dan Halloran isn't waiting for the end of the Democratic primary to start releasing web videos about his candidacy. [Lisa Colangelo]
NY-07
Rep. Nydia Velazquez's real rival in the race is Brooklyn Democratic County Leader Vito Lopez, who is not on the ballot. [Sarah Wheaton]
The Journal leads with the same angle, and goes on to note Velazquez has endorsements from Senators Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand and President Obama. [Andrew Grossman]
NY-08
"They're afraid of me," Charles Barron said after Senator Chuck Schumer endorsed Hakeem Jeffries. [Gerry Shields]
NY-11
Four people connected to Rep. Michael Grimm were questioned by the F.B.I. about his fund-raising. [Alison Gendar]
2013
"The mayoral wannabes, in particular, sound much more like David Dinkins than Rudy Giuliani." [New York Post]
Yossi Gestetner
The man who abruptly left his job as a liaison to religious voters for the New York State Republican Party discussed how much the G.O.P. supports spending on government programs and his work raising money for an accused sexual molester. [Josh Robin]
The Economy
"More than half of all of African-Americans and other non-Hispanic blacks in the city who were old enough to work had no job at all this year, according to an analysis of employment data compiled by the federal Labor Department."
Also: Almost 40,000 black workers have given up looking for work, compared to 22,000 white workers. [Patrick McGeehan]
City Hall
Mayor Michael Bloomberg and City Council Speaker Christine Quinn will join a suit challenging DOMA. [David Seifman]
Bloomberg unexpectedly refused to sign legislation punishing taxi drivers for picking up hookers, saying it could scare drivers from picking up women, perhaps even his own daughters, based on how they're dressed. [Sally Goldenberg]
City Council
Councilman Steven Levin and Joel Berg of the NYC Coalition Against Hunger want to expand the Breakfast in Classrooms program. [Fred Mogul]
The second federal corruption trial of City Councilman Larry Seabrook is underway. [Benjamin Weiser]
Albany
Passing Cuomo's teacher evaluation legislation is "urgent," said Regents chancellor Merryl Tisch. [Ken Lovett]
The Republican-controlled State Senate would have to vote on the legislation today. [Carl Campanile and Erik Kriss]
Republican State Senator Greg Ball likes the legislation. [Joseph Spector]
To Cuomo: "[T]here you stand, arm in arm with union bosses." [New York Post]
Republican state senator Tom Libous of Binghamton and Democratic assemblyman Robin Schimminger of Buffalo are sponsoring legislation to help a Manhattan catering hall get a liquor license, despite opposition from Democratic state senator Liz Krueger, who represents the district in which the catering hall is located. [Danny Hakim]
Stop-and-Frisk
Police Academy commanding officer James Shea: "The most important thing is how you disengage from that person who you stopped who was not guilty of a crime." [Jessica Simeone and Dan Mangan]
In a role-playing demonstration for reporters, a black suspect was allowed to walk away from a police encounter while a white suspected was frisked. "It doesn't reflect the NYPD statistics that show 87 percent of all stops last year happened to blacks and Latinos," said an RNN reporter. [Kim Lengle]
i-Ran
NPR picks up a story about Apple employees refusing to sell products to U.S. citizens heard speaking Farsi. [Mark Memmott]
The story leads Gothamist's roundup. [Ben Yakas]
Celebrities
Alec Baldwin shook hands with Bill Clinton one day after allegedly attacking a Daily News photographer. Baldwin told David Letterman "Nobody got punched" and "I kind of pushed him out of the way because he almost hit me in the face with the camera." [Josh Margolin and Dan Mangan]
From Capital
Romney's super PAC raised some $350,000 in New York last month from, among others, a former Obama donor and a math tutor. [Reid Pillifant]
More on Cuomo's remarks about the conservatism he sees in the State Senate and on the New York Post editorial page. [Dana Rubinstein]
"The News really went nuts with the story" of Alec Baldwin attacking a News photographer. [Joe Pompeo]
A City Council bill to create an Inspector General for the NYPD got a Republican sponsor who is also a former NYPD officer. [Azi Paybarah]
A massive loophole is making it impossible to tell who's contributing money to defeat Charlie Rangel. [Reid Pillifant]
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