Early life
Michael Bloomberg was born at
St. Elizabeth's Hospital[9] in the
Brighton neighborhood
[9] of
Boston on February 14, 1942. His father, William Henry Bloomberg, born in
Chelsea, Massachusetts on January 19, 1906, was a
real estate agent, and the son of Alexander "Elick" Bloomberg, a
Russian Jewish immigrant. His mother, Charlotte Bloomberg (née Rubens), born January 2, 1909, in
New Jersey, was the daughter of a Russian immigrant and a New Jersey–born mother. She is now a
centenarian and reportedly in very good health. The family lived in the Boston neighborhood of
Allston, until Bloomberg was two years old; they subsequently moved to Atherton Road in
Brookline, Massachusetts, for the next two years, and finally settled in
Medford – a Boston suburb – where Bloomberg lived until after he graduated from college. The family had a pet frog named Roger. His younger sister, Marjorie Tiven, has been Commissioner of the New York City Commission for the
United Nations, Consular Corps and Protocol, since February 2002.
[10]Bloomberg married
Yorkshire-born Susan Brown in 1975. Their marriage produced two daughters: Emma (b. ca. 1979) and
Georgina (b. 1983), who were featured on
Born Rich, a
documentary film about the children of the extremely wealthy. Bloomberg divorced Brown and is currently romantically linked with former New York state banking superintendent
Diana Taylor.
[13][edit]Business career
In 1973 Bloomberg became a general partner at
Salomon Brothers where he headed
equity trading, and later,
systems development. In 1981 he was fired from Salomon Brothers and was given a $10-million severance package.
[14] Using this money, Bloomberg went on to set up a company named Innovative Market Systems. In 1982,
Merrill Lynch became the new company's first customer, installing 22 of the company's
Market Master terminals and investing $30 million in the company. The company was renamed
Bloomberg L.P. in 1986. By 1987, it had installed 5,000 terminals. Within a few years, ancillary products including Bloomberg Tradebook (a trading platform), the Bloomberg Messaging Service, and the Bloomberg newswire were launched. As of 2009, the company had more than 250,000 terminals worldwide. His company also has a radio network which currently has its flagship station as 1130
WBBR-AM in
New York City. He left the position of CEO to pursue a political career as the mayor of New York. He was replaced as CEO by Lex Fenwick. The company is now led by president
Dan Doctoroff, a former deputy mayor under Bloomberg.
As mayor of New York, Bloomberg declines to receive a city salary, accepting remuneration of $1.00 annually for his services. He maintains a public listing in the New York City phone directory, residing not in
Gracie Mansion – the official mayor's mansion – but instead at his own home on the
Upper East Side of
Manhattan, at
17 East 79th Street between Madison and Fifth Avenues. He owns additional homes in
London,
Bermuda and
Vail.
[15]Bloomberg is, by his own accounts at least, a frequent rider of the
New York City Subway, particularly in the commute from his 79th Street home to his office at
City Hall. An August 2007 story in
The New York Times contradicted this notion, suggesting instead that he often was chauffeured by two
New York Police Department-owned SUVs to an express train station to avoid having to change from the local to the express trains on the Lexington Avenue line.
[16]In March 2009, Forbes reported Michael Bloomberg's wealth at $16 billion, a gain of $4.5 billion since the previous year, which makes him one of the most successful billionaires in the United States during the recession, and a person enjoying the world's biggest increase in wealth in 2009.
[17] At that time, there were only four fortunes in the U.S. that were larger (although the
Wal-Mart family fortune is split among four people). Bloomberg moved from 142nd to 17th in the
Forbes list of the world's billionaires in only two years (March 2007 - March 2009).
[18][19][20][edit]Philanthropy
Bloomberg's personal net worth, in addition to aiding his political career, has allowed him to engage in substantial philanthropic endeavors, including the donation of over $300 million to
Johns Hopkins University,
[21] where he served as the chairman of the board from 1996 to 2002.
According to
The New York Times,
[24] Bloomberg has been an “anonymous donor” to the
Carnegie Corporation each year for the last several years, with gifts ranging from $5 to $20 million. The Carnegie Corporation has distributed this contribution to hundreds of New York City organizations
[25] ranging from the Dance Theater of
Harlem to Gilda’s Club, a not-for-profit organization that provides support to people and families living with
cancer.
In 1996, Bloomberg endowed the William Henry Bloomberg Professorship at Harvard with a $3 million gift in honor of his father, who died in 1963, saying, "throughout his life, he recognized the importance of reaching out to the nonprofit sector to help better the welfare of the entire community."
[26] He also endowed his hometown
synagogue, Temple Shalom, which was renamed for his parents as the William and Charlotte Bloomberg Jewish Community Center of Medford.
[1][27]Bloomberg reports giving $254 million in 2009 to almost 1,400 nonprofit organizations, saying: "I am a big believer in giving it all away and have always said that the best financial planning ends with bouncing the check to the undertaker."
[28][edit]Awards and honors
At the 2007 Commencement exercises for
Tufts University, Bloomberg delivered the commencement address. He was awarded an
honorary degree in
Public Service from the university. Likewise, Bloomberg delivered the 2007 commencement address at
Bard College, where he was also awarded an honorary degree of
Doctor of Humane Letters.
[29] In February 2003, he received the "Award for Distinguished Leadership in Global Capital Markets" from the
Yale School of Management. He was named the 39th most influential person in the world in the 2007
Time 100.
[30] In September, 2007,
Vanity Fair ranked him #9 in its "Vanity Fair 100: The 2007 New Establishment."
[31] In May 2008, he was awarded an honorary doctorate of laws by the
University of Pennsylvania, where he delivered the commencement speech to the class of 2008.
[32] Bloomberg also delivered the commencement address to the class of 2008 at
Barnard College after receiving the Barnard Medal of Distinction, the College's highest honor.
[33]He was also awarded a tribute award at the 2007
Gotham Awards, a New York based celebrator of Independent Film. On November 19, 2008, Mr. Bloomberg received
The Hundred Year Association of New York's Gold Medal "in recognition of outstanding contributions to the City of New York." Additionally, he was awarded an honorary doctorate at
Fordham University's 2009 commencement ceremonies.
[34]In 2009, he received a Healthy Communities Leadership Award from Leadership for Healthy Communities – a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation national program – for his policies and programs that increase access to healthy foods and physical activity options in the city.
[35]For instance, to increase access to grocery stores in underserved areas, the Bloomberg administration developed a program called FRESH that offers zoning and financial incentives to developers, grocery store operators and land owners.
[36] His administration also created a Healthy Bodega initiative, which provides healthy food samples and promotional support to grocers in lower-income areas to encourage them to carry 1% milk and fruits and vegetables.
[37] Under Bloomberg’s leadership, the city also: passed a Green Carts bill,
[38] which supports mobile produce vendors in lower-income areas; expanded farmers’ markets using the city’s Health Bucks program which provides coupons to eligible individuals to buy produce at farmers’ markets in lower-income areas;
[39] and committed $111 million in capital funding for playground improvements.
[40] New York also was one of the first cities in the nation to help patrons make more informed decisions about their food choices by requiring fast-food and chain restaurants to label their menus with calorie information.
[41][edit]Harassment controversies
Bloomberg has previously been accused of sexually harassing women under his employment, which he has denied.
[42][43] In 1997, a former Bloomberg L.P. employee who became pregnant while employed filed a lawsuit accusing Bloomberg of saying "Kill it!" and "great, No. 16", which may have been a reference to the number of pregnant women in the company.
[42] In December 2008, Portfolio magazine published a story: "Mayor Bloomberg's Delicate Condition", which reported that in September 2007, the EEOC filed a class-action lawsuit against Bloomberg's company on behalf of three women who worked on the business side, plus a group of women who worked at Bloomberg's company between 2002 and the present. The article said the plaintiffs "now total 72, out of about 500 women who took maternity leave during that time, a high percentage, according to the agency".
[44][edit]Elections
[edit]2001 election
In 2001, the
incumbent mayor of
New York,
Rudy Giuliani, was ineligible for re-election, as the city limited the mayoralty to two consecutive terms. Several well-known New York City politicians aspired to succeed him. Bloomberg, a lifelong member of the
Democratic Party, decided to run for mayor as a member of the
Republican Party ticket.
In the general election, Bloomberg received Giuliani's endorsement. He also had a huge spending advantage. Although New York City's
campaign finance law restricts the amount of contributions which a candidate can accept, Bloomberg chose not to use public campaign funds and therefore his campaign was not subject to these restrictions. He spent $73 million of his own money on his campaign, outspending Green by five to one.
[45] One of the major themes of his campaign was that, with the city's economy suffering from the effects of the World Trade Center attacks, it needed a mayor with business experience.
In addition to being the Republican nominee, Bloomberg had the ballot line of the controversial
Independence Party, in which "Social Therapy" leaders
Fred Newman and
Lenora Fulani exert strong influence. Some say that endorsement was important, as Bloomberg's votes on that line exceeded his margin of victory over Green. (Under
New York's
fusion rules, a candidate can run on more than one party's line and combine all the votes received on all lines. Green, the Democrat, also had the ballot line of the
Working Families Party. Bloomberg also created an independent line called Students First whose votes were combined with those on the Independence line). Another factor was the vote in
Staten Island, which has traditionally been far friendlier to Republicans than the rest of the city. Bloomberg handily beat Green in that borough, taking 75% of the vote there. Overall,
Bloomberg won 50% to 48%.
Bloomberg's election marked the first time in New York City history that two different Republicans had been elected mayor consecutively. New York City has not been won by a Republican in a presidential election since
Ronald Reagan won in
1984. Bloomberg is considered a social
liberal, who is
pro-choice, in favor of
legalizing same-sex marriage and an advocate for stricter
gun control laws.
Despite the fact that 68 percent of New York City's registered voters are Democrats, Bloomberg decided the city should host the 2004 Republican National Convention. The Convention drew thousands of protesters, many of them local residents angry over the Iraq war and other issues. The Police Department arrested approximately 1,800 protesters, but according to The New York Times, more than 90 percent of the cases were later dismissed or dropped for lack of evidence.
[edit]2005 election
Bloomberg was
re-elected mayor in November 2005 by a margin of 20%, the widest margin ever for a Republican mayor of New York.
[46]He spent over $1 million on his campaign by late October 2005, and was projected to exceed the record of $74 million he spent on the previous election. In late 2004 or early 2005, he gave the
Independence Party $250,000 to fund a phone bank seeking to recruit volunteers for his re-election campaign.
[47]Former Bronx Borough President
Fernando Ferrer won the Democratic nomination to oppose Bloomberg in the general election.
Thomas Ognibene sought to run against Bloomberg in the Republican Party's primary election.
[48] Bloomberg's campaign successfully challenged enough of the signatures Ognibene had submitted to the Board of Elections to prevent Ognibene from appearing on ballots for the Republican primary.
[48] Instead, Ognibene ran only on the
Conservative Party ticket.
[49] Ognibene accused Bloomberg of betraying Republican Party ideals, a feeling echoed by others.
[50][51][52][53][54][edit]2009 election
On October 2, 2008, Bloomberg announced that he would seek to extend the
city's term limits law and
run for a third mayoral term in 2009, arguing that a leader of his field is needed during the
Wall Street financial crisis. "Handling this financial crisis while strengthening essential services ... is a challenge I want to take on," Bloomberg told at a news conference. "So should the City Council vote to amend term limits, I plan to ask New Yorkers to look at my record of independent leadership and then decide if I have earned another term".
[57] On October 23, 2008, the City Council voted 29-22 in favor of extending the term limit to three consecutive four-year terms, thus allowing Bloomberg to run for office again.
[58] After two days of public hearings, Bloomberg signed the bill into law on November 3.
[59]After the release of Independence Party campaign filings in January 2010, it was reported that Bloomberg had made two $600,000 contributions from his personal account to the Independence Party on October 30 and November 2, 2009.
[62] The Independence Party then paid $750,000 of that money to Republican Party political operative John Haggerty Jr.
[63] This prompted to an investigation beginning in February 2010 by the office of
New York County District Attorney Cyrus Vance, Jr. into possible improprieties.
[64] The Independence Party later questioned how Haggerty spent the money, which was to go to poll-watchers.
[65] Former New York State Senator
Martin Connorcontended that because the Bloomberg donations were made to an Independence Party housekeeping account rather than to an account meant for current campaigns, this was a violation of campaign finance laws.
[66] Haggerty also spent money from a separate $200,000 donation from Bloomberg on office space.
[67][edit]Mayoralty
Bloomberg assumed office as the 108th
Mayor of New York City on January 1, 2002. He won re-election in 2005. As mayor, Bloomberg initially struggled to gain high approval levels from the public; however, he subsequently developed and maintained high approval ratings.
Bloomberg's re-election means that the Republicans have won the previous four mayoral elections (although Bloomberg's decision to leave the Republican Party and be declared an independent on June 19, 2007, resulted in the
Republican Party's losing the mayor's seat prior to the expiration of his second term). Bloomberg joins
Rudy Giuliani and
Fiorello La Guardia as re-elected Republican mayors in this mostly Democratic city. (
John Lindsay was also elected mayor of New York twice while a registered Republican; however, Lindsay did not receive the Republican Party nomination during his
1969 campaign for re-election but ran successfully on the
Liberal ticket and joined the
Democratic Party during his second term.)
Bloomberg has said he wants reforming
public education to be the legacy of his first term and addressing
poverty to be the legacy of his second.
[68] Some have alleged that he made certain decisions regarding the closure of 17 day-care centers across the city for political reasons.
[69] According to the National Assessment of Educational Performance, fourth grade reading scores from 2002 through 2009 have risen by 11 points. In big cities as a whole the NAEP found an 8 point rise. On May 10th 2010 the New York Times reported, "According to the test [NAEP], New York City eighth graders have shown no significant improvement [in math or reading] since they began taking it in 2003, mirroring the largely flat performance of American eighth graders as a whole during that period. In the city, the lack of improvement held true across ethnic groups and also among lower-income students." The annual New York City Department of Education Budget notes that spending for education was 12.5 billion in 2002 and 21 billion in 2009.
He is known as a political pragmatist and for a managerial style that reflects his experience in the
private sector. Bloomberg has chosen to apply a statistical, results-based approach to city management, appointing city commissioners based on their expertise and granting them wide autonomy in their decision-making. Breaking with 190 years of tradition, Bloomberg implemented what
New York Times political reporter Adam Nagourney called a "bullpen" open office plan, similar to a
Wall Street trading floor, in which dozens of aides and managerial staff are seated together in a large chamber. The design is intended to promote accountability and accessibility.
[70]In November 2010, a
Public Policy Polling survey of American registered voters inside and outside of New York City found that 19% voters expressed a favorable opinion of Bloomberg. A 38% plurality expressed a negative view.
[71][edit]Political stands
Some of the policies Bloomberg advocates parallel those of either the
Democratic or the
Republican party platform. He is socially
liberal, supporting abortion rights, gay marriage, gun control, and amnesty for illegal immigrants, for example. On economics, foreign, and domestic issues, he tends to be
conservative. He opposes a timeline for withdrawal from Iraq, and criticizes those who favor one. Economically, he supports government involvement in issues such as public welfare and climate change, while being strongly in favor of free trade, pro-business, and describing himself as a
fiscal conservative because he balanced the city's budget.
[72][edit]Social issues
Bloomberg supports
abortion rights, stating: "Reproductive choice is a fundamental human right and we can never take it for granted. On this issue, you're either with us or against us." He has criticized pro-choice politicians who support pro-life candidates. His comments may have been directed at
New York Senator Chuck Schumer, a supporter of abortion rights who supported
Bob Casey, who is pro-life, in the
2006 Senate election.
[73]Bloomberg tends to be
liberal about his policies towards many social issues. He supports governmental funding for
embryonic stem cellresearch, calling the Republican position
on the issue "insanity."
[74] He also supports
same-sex marriage with the rationale that “I think anybody should be allowed to marry anybody".
[75]He supports the strict drug laws of New York City. He has stated that he smoked
marijuana in the past, and was quoted in a 2001 interview as saying "You bet I did. I enjoyed it". This led to a reported $500,000 advertising campaign by
NORML, featuring his image and the quote. Bloomberg stated in a 2002 interview that he regrets the remark, and does not believe that marijuana should be decriminalized.
[76][edit]Domestic issues
On crime, Bloomberg opposes the
death penalty, stating, "I'd rather lock somebody up and throw away the key and put them in
hard labor, the ultimate penalty that the law will allow, but I'm opposed to the death penalty."
[77] As mayor he increased the mandatory minimum sentence for illegal possession of a loaded handgun. In regard to the change, Bloomberg commented, "Illegal guns don't belong on our streets and we're sending that message loud and clear. We're determined to see that gun dealers who break the law are held accountable, and that criminals who carry illegal loaded guns serve serious time behind bars."
[77]Bloomberg has also shown involvement in education reform as mayor, replacing the school board set up by the state with direct mayoral control over
public education. He raised the salaries of teachers by 15% while the test scores of students in the city and the graduation rate rose as well. Bloomberg is opposed to the promotion of students to the next grade level for strictly social reasons, stating that students should be promoted only when they are adequately prepared for the next grade level. He favors after-school programs to help students who are behind. As mayor, Bloomberg strengthened the
cell-phone ban in schools.
[78]In dealing with
global warming and New York's role in it, he has enacted a plan called "PlaNYC: A Greener, Greater New York" to fight global warming, protect the
environment and prepare New York for the projected 1 million more people expected to be living in the city by the year 2030.
[79] Bloomberg has also been involved in motivating other cities to make changes, delivering the keynote address at the
C40 Large Cities Climate Summit and stating, "[W]e now know beyond a doubt that global warming is a reality. And the question we must all answer is, what are we going to do about it?" Bloomberg also talked about how he would go about fighting climate change by reducing
carbon dioxide emissions, using cleaner and more efficient
fuels, and encouraging
public transportation.
[80] His ideas have occasionally suffered setbacks, such as the New York State Assembly's recent rejection of his idea for applying
congestion pricing below 60th St. in Manhattan.
On issues of domestic and
homeland security, Bloomberg has attacked
social conservatives on
immigration, calling their stance unrealistic, "We're not going to deport 12 million people, so let's stop this fiction. Let's give them permanent status."
[81] He supports a federal ID database that uses
DNA and
fingerprint technology to keep track of all citizens and to verify their legal status.
[82] Bloomberg believes that illegal immigrants should be offered citizenship and has supported the congressional efforts of
John McCain and the late
Ted Kennedy in their attempt at
immigration reform in 2007. Regarding border security, Bloomberg compared it to the tide, stating, "It’s as if we expect border control agents to do what a century of communism could not: defeat the natural market forces of supply and demand... and defeat the natural human desire for freedom and opportunity. You might as well as sit in your beach chair and tell the tide not to come in. As long as America remains a nation dedicated to the proposition that 'all men are created equal, endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness,' people from near and far will continue to seek entry into our country."
[83]Bloomberg believes that the
September 11, 2001 attacks were not intended to be solitary events. When he assumed office, he set up a Counterterrorism Bureau which works along with the NYPD intelligence division to gather information about terrorism affecting New York worldwide. He believes that funding for
Homeland Security by the federal government should be distributed by risk, where cities that are considered to have the highest threat for a terrorist attack would get the most money.
[84] Bloomberg is also a supporter of the
USA PATRIOT Act.
[85][edit]Economic issues
Michael Bloomberg characterizes himself as a fiscal conservative for turning the city's $6-billion deficit into a $3-billion surplus; however, conservative PAC
Club for Growth has criticized him because he increased property taxes and spending while doing so.
Being a fiscal conservative is not about slashing programs that help the poor, or improve health care, or ensure a social safety net. It's about insisting services are provided efficiently, get to only the people that need them, and achieve the desired results. Fiscal conservatives have hearts too — but we also insist on using our brains, and that means demanding results and holding government accountable for producing them.
To me, fiscal conservatism means balancing budgets — not running deficits that the next generation can't afford. It means improving the efficiency of delivering services by finding innovative ways to do more with less. It means cutting taxes when possible and prudent to do so, raising them overall only when necessary to balance the budget, and only in combination with spending cuts. It means when you run a surplus, you save it; you don't squander it. And most importantly, being a fiscal conservative means preparing for the inevitable economic downturns — and by all indications, we've got one coming.
—Michael Bloomberg,
speech to UK Conservative Party, September 30, 2007[72]
Bloomberg has expressed a distaste of taxes, stating, "Taxes are not good things, but if you want services, somebody's got to pay for them, so they're a necessary evil."
[86] As mayor, he did raise property taxes to fund budget projects; however, in January 2007 he proposed cuts in property taxes by 5% and cuts in sales taxes, including the elimination of taxes on clothing and footwear. Bloomberg pointed to the
Wall Street profits and the
real estate market as evidence that the city's economy is booming and could handle a tax break.
[87]His self-described fiscal conservatism also led him to eliminate the existing $6-billion deficit when he assumed office. He balanced the budget of New York City by raising
property taxes and making cuts to city agencies, excluding the police and fire departments.
[88]As a businessman, Bloomberg is respected by the business community and governs with a pro-business platform. He is in favor of providing tax breaks to big corporations for the good of the whole community. As mayor, Bloomberg lobbied the
CEO of
Goldman Sachs to establish its headquarters across from
Ground Zero by promising $1.65 billion in tax breaks. Regarding this deal, Bloomberg stated, "This [New York City] is where the best want to live and work. So I told him [CEO of Goldman Sachs], 'We can help with minimizing taxes. Minimizing your rent. Improving security. But in the end, this is about people.'"
[89]He has had a less cordial relationship with unions as mayor. In 2002, when New York City's transit workers threatened to
strike, Bloomberg responded by riding a mountain bike through the city to show how the city could deal with the transit strike by finding alternate means of transportation and not pandering to the unions.
[90] Three years later, a clash between Bloomberg and the
New York City Transit Authority over wages and union benefits led to a full blown strike that lasted three days. Negotiations led to the end of the strike in December 2005, but controversy exists over Bloomberg's mishandling of the situation.
Bloomberg is a staunch advocate of
free trade and is strongly opposed to
protectionism, stating, "The things that we have to worry about is this protectionist movement that has reared its head again in this country...." He worries about the growth of
China and fears the lessening gap between the
United States and other countries: "The rest of the world is catching up, and, there are people that say, surpassing us. I hope they are wrong. I hope those who think we are still in good shape are right. But nevertheless, the time to address these issues is right now."
[91]Bloomberg puts a strong emphasis on
public health and welfare, adopting many
liberal policies. As the mayor he made
HIV,
diabetes, and
hypertension all top priorities. He extended the city's smoking ban to all commercial establishments and implemented a
trans fat ban in restaurants.
[92] Mayor Bloomberg has been a strong supporter of the
New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation – the largest urban healthcare agency in the United States – serving over 1.3 million New Yorkers, and has touted its use of information technology and
Electronic Health Records to increase efficiency and enhance patient care.
[93] He also launched a program called
Opportunity NYC which is the nation's first-ever conditional cash transfer pilot program designed to help New Yorkers break the cycle of poverty in the city. He instituted a $7.5 billion municipal affordable housing plan, the largest in the nation, that is supposed to provide 500,000 New Yorkers with housing.
[94]Bloomberg is concerned about poverty and growing class divisions stating, "This society cannot go forward, the way we have been going forward, where the gap between the rich and the poor keeps growing."
[91][edit]Foreign policy
As mayor, Bloomberg made trips to
Mexico, the
United Kingdom,
Ireland, and
Israel in the first four months of 2007.
[95] In late 2007 he conducted an Asia trip that brought him to China, where he called for greater freedom of information to promote innovation. He also attended the United Nations Climate Conference in Bali.
His enthusiasm seems to have lessened somewhat over the course of the war. In August 2005 he said, "I think everybody has very mixed emotions about the war that was started to find weapons of mass destruction and then they were not found."
[97] Bloomberg expresses criticism about Democrats in
Congress who want to set a timetable for withdraw from Iraq calling them, "irresponsible."
[98]Mayor Bloomberg has recruited some top foreign policy experts to advise him on international issues of general interest.
[edit]Preservation and development issues
Bloomberg delivering a speech.
Mayor Bloomberg is often a proponent of large-scale
development. He has repeatedly come down in favor of projects such as the
Atlantic Yards mega-development, the
Hudson Yardsredevelopment, and the
Harlem rezoning proposal.
[99] This support has led to a negative response from the
preservationist community.
[citation needed] On smaller-scale issues, Bloomberg typically takes the side of development as well. He favors the demolition of
Admiral's Row[100] in order to build a supermarket parking lot. However, Bloomberg has come down on the side of preservation a number of times, most notably in vetoing landmark revocation for the Austin Nichols warehouse.
[101] This move was widely applauded by architectural historians.
[citation needed] The City Council overruled the veto shortly thereafter.
[citation needed] He is largely responsible for the bus shelter deal with
Cemusa, which has drawn a lot of criticism from New York residents.
[citation needed][edit]Post-mayoral plans
Before a change in the law in November 2008, Bloomberg was prohibited by
term limits from being re-elected in November 2009. This led to speculation concerning his future political prospects, although he repeatedly stated his intention to return to a life of
philanthropy once his tenure as mayor expires. In pursuit of this goal, he purchased for $45 million a prospective headquarters – originally built by
Stuyvesant Fish – for his planned foundation on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in the City of New York.
[edit]2008 presidential campaign speculation
On February 27, 2008, Bloomberg announced that he would not run for president in 2008, and that he would endorse a candidate who takes an independent and non-partisan approach.
[102] He had also stated unequivocally, live on the
Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve TV show, December 31, 2007, that he was not going to run for president in 2008.
[103] Despite previous public statements by Bloomberg denying plans for a presidential run,
[104] many pundits cited events that led them to believe that Bloomberg would announce a campaign at a later date. On January 7, 2008, he met at the
University of Oklahoma with a bipartisan group of elder statesmen – including
Nebraska Senator
Chuck Hageland former
Georgia Senator
Sam Nunn, both of whom had been frequently mentioned as possible running mates – to pressure the major party candidates to promote national unity and reduce
partisan gridlock. Speculation that Bloomberg would choose this forum to announce his candidacy proved to be unfounded.
[105][106] Other purported signs that he planned to run included:
In summer 2006, he met with
Al From of the
Democratic Leadership Council, a centrist group, to talk about the logistics of a possible run.
[107] After a conversation with Bloomberg, Republican
Senator Chuck Hagel of
Nebraska suggested that he and Bloomberg could run on a shared independent ticket for the presidency.
[108] On
This Week on June 10, 2007, anchor
George Stephanopoulos included panelist
Jay Carney, who mentioned a conversation between Bloomberg and top staffers where he heard Bloomberg ask approximately how much a presidential campaign would cost. Carney said that one staffer replied, "Around $500 million." According to a Washington Post article, a $500 million budget would allow Bloomberg to circumvent many of the common obstacles faced by
third party candidates seeking the
White House.
[109] On June 19, 2007, Bloomberg left the
Republican Party, filing as an independent after a speech criticizing the current political climate in Washington.
[110][111] On August 9, 2007, in an interview with former
CBS anchor
Dan Rather that aired on August 21, Bloomberg categorically stated that he was not running for President, that he would not be running, and that there were no circumstances in which he would, saying, "If somebody asks me where I stand, I tell them. And that’s not a way to get elected, generally. Nobody’s going to elect me president of the United States. What I’d like to do is to be able to influence the dialogue. I’m a citizen."
[112]Despite continued denials, a possible Bloomberg candidacy continues to be the subject of media attention, including a November
Newsweekcover story.
[113] During a private reception in December 2007, Bloomberg conducted a version of bingo in which guests were to guess the meaning of the numbers on a printed card. When Mr. Bloomberg asked the significance of 271, one guest answered correctly: the number of electoral votes received by George W. Bush in 2000.
[114] In January 2008, CNN reported that a source close to Bloomberg said that the mayor had launched a research effort to assess his chances of winning a potential presidential bid. According to the report, the unidentified source also stated that Bloomberg had set early March as a timetable for making a decision as to whether or not to run.
[115] On January 16, 2008, it was reported that Bloomberg's business interests were placed in "a sort of
blind trust" because of his possible run for the presidency. His interests were put under the management of
Quadrangle Group, co-founded by reported Bloomberg friend
Steven Rattner, though Bloomberg would "continue to have control of and access to certain investment decisions."
[116]On January 18, 2008, the Associated Press reported that Bloomberg had a meeting in
Austin, Texas, with Clay Mulford, a ballot access expert and campaign manager for
Ross Perot's
third party presidential campaigns. Bloomberg denied that the meeting concerned a possible presidential campaign by him, stating "I'm not a candidate — it couldn't be clearer. Which of the words do you not understand?"
[102] On February 28, 2008, Bloomberg stated "I am not – and will not be – a candidate for president." He added that he is "hopeful that the current campaigns can rise to the challenge by offering truly independent leadership. The most productive role that I can serve is to push them forward, by using the means at my disposal to promote a real and honest debate.
[102]At the same time the presidential run was being considered, there was also some speculation that Bloomberg could be a candidate for the
vice presidency in 2008. In a
blog posting of June 21, 2007,
The Politico's
Ben Smith asked the question of whether a VP candidate can self-finance an entire presidential ticket.
[117] Many believed that Bloomberg would in fact be legally permitted to self-finance a campaign as the VP candidate.
Adding more fuel to the speculation that Bloomberg might consider a VP slot were a series of meetings he had in mid-August 2007 with former Georgia Senator
Sam Nunn and later with Barack Obama on November 30, 2007.
[118] A May 17, 2008, breakfast meeting with John McCain led to speculation that Bloomberg might be on McCain's short list of possible VP candidates.
[119][edit]Rumored gubernatorial campaign
On November 6, 2007, the
New York Post detailed efforts by New York Republicans to recruit Bloomberg to oppose then-incumbent Governor
Eliot Spitzer in the 2010 election. Early polls indicated Bloomberg would defeat Spitzer in a landslide. (The potential 2010 match-up became moot when Spitzer resigned on March 17, 2008.)
[120] A March 20, 2008, poll of New York State voters had the Mayor topping newly ascended Governor
David Paterson and former New York City Mayor
Rudy Giuliani for the 2010 gubernatorial election.
[121] Bloomberg denied plans to run for the governorship in 2010, and did not seek the nomination.
[122][edit]2012 presidential campaign speculation
In March 2010, Bloomberg's top political strategist
Kevin Sheekey resigned from his mayoral advisory position and returned to
Bloomberg LP, Bloomberg's company. It is speculated that the move will allow Sheekey to begin preliminary efforts for a Bloomberg presidential campaign in the
2012 election. An individual close to Bloomberg said, "the idea of continuing onward is not far from his [Bloomberg's] mind."
[123]In October 2010, The Committee to Draft Michael Bloomberg - which had attempted to recruit Bloomberg to run for the presidency in 2008 -announced it was relaunching its effort to persuade Bloomberg to wage a presidential campaign in 2012.
[124][125] The committee members insisted that they would persist in the effort in spite of Bloomberg's repeated denials of interest in seeking the presidency.
[125][126]
While on Meet The Press, Bloomberg ruled out a run for the Presidency in 2012. Bloomberg said the following on a 2012 run: “I’m not going to run for president,” , “No way, no how.” and “I’m not looking at the possibility of running,".
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