Lula: Bloomberg, the Self-Sufficient Politician
Karoluna Lula
Issue date: 10/10/05 Section: Opinion
Michael Bloomberg was a registered Democrat until the 2001 elections for mayor of New York City. Cleverly dodging a difficult Democratic primary runoff, Bloomberg is like an unwanted child that just refuses to be a failure to his parents. Somehow Bloomberg manages to get every political party to wash their hands clean. Amazingly, while no party truly supports Bloomberg, he is leading the polls and is most likely going to secure himself a second term as New York's mayor. Is it because he is so damn independent?
The New York Democrats are playing the punishment game. Former New York City mayor David N. Dinkins, a Democrat, lent his support to his fellow party member, Fernando Ferrer, and recently chastised those Democrats who lent theirs to the party-hopping Michael Bloomberg. Another former mayor, Edward Koch, also a Democrat, chose to side with Bloomberg because he says, "Freddy Ferrer can't hold a candle to Mike Bloomberg." Koch sees nothing wrong with crossing party lines to support Bloomberg.
On the same day that Hillary Clinton announced her support of Ferrer, Bloomberg announced his disapproval of the Chief Justice candidate Judge John G. Roberts, Jr. In the hopes of a ticket back to the White House, Hillary Clinton alternates between catering to the needs of the centrists and staying faithful to the party she is supposed to, but never has, embodied. On Bloomberg's side, it was a tactical move to send a message to the New York Democrats: I may have switched parties to avoid a difficult primary run off and am borrowing Giuliani's post-9/11 glory, but I am still a Democrat.
While Democrats view Mr. Bloomberg as a party hopper, Libertarians see Mr. Bloomberg as a party pooper. He enraged Libertarians in 2004 with his high taxes on cigarettes. Bloomberg raised cigarette taxes after the state of New York already increased cigarette taxes by 39 cents to $1.50. The Manhattan Libertarian Party protested by purchasing cheaper cigarettes online and sponsoring a giveaway. In addition, while pushing the crime rate down an additional 20 percent since his election, he helped increase property taxes and assumed direct control of the school system. He raises taxes. He refuses to privatize anything. In that respect, Mr. Bloomberg goes against his business impulse.
In his early days as mayor, Bloomberg did not warm the Republican Party to his character. In November 2001, Bloomberg spoke at the breakfast for veterans and did not follow in the footsteps of Rudolph Giuliani or Governor Pataki. He failed to profusely praise Bush in his speech.
Despite the criticism, Bloomberg relentlessly tries to win over the Republican Party. During the 2004 Presidential election, Bloomberg gave $2,000 and $25,000 to George W. Bush and the Republican National Committee respectively. He is also no friend to "corporate welfare". In recent years, the strategy was to use large tax breaks to keep businesses in the city. The chances of some of the companies offered the tax breaks leaving are quite slim, since they included New York Times and the New York Stock Exchange. As much as a mayor has influence in stopping this practice, mayor Bloomberg broke with it.
However, it is difficult to win over the Republican Party while being a believer in big government. When Andrew Haughwout and Nathaniel Hilger of New York's Federal Reserve analyzed 27 American cities in 2001-02, their research indicated that New York's spending is three times larger per person than the average city. Spending increased six times on education, and 17 more times on public welfare.
No party truly wants to claim Bloomberg, yet he is still leading the polls. Fifty-eight percent of New York residents want to vote for him, compared with only 38 percent that wish to vote for his opponent. The reason is that despite Bloomberg not having support from virtually anyone prominent, New York is overwhelmingly Democrat. With the constitution of the State of New York requiring "aid, care and support of the needy," it would be political suicide to not embody some liberal ideals. Even Rudolph Giuliani, who had the support of the Republican White House, was pro-gun control, pro-choice, pro-racial quotas, and pro-gay rights.
Fortunately for Bloomberg, he is an extremely self-sufficient businessman. After founding a business-information and media firm, he used $73 million of his own money to finance his election campaign. He is not indebted to unions or interest groups. He takes little pay for the onerous job as mayor, and does not express ambitions of pursuing higher office. The man relied solely on running his city like a business: conducting market research and recruiting experts to create policy.
The only people we can trust are the wealthiest politicians, since they cannot be bought by interest groups and other political parasites. How can you be bought if you are the buyer? Michael Bloomberg, the self-sufficient businessman, will prove again to be equally self-sufficient politician.
Columnist Karolina Lula, an NCAS economics and political science major, is executive vice president of the SGA.
The New York Democrats are playing the punishment game. Former New York City mayor David N. Dinkins, a Democrat, lent his support to his fellow party member, Fernando Ferrer, and recently chastised those Democrats who lent theirs to the party-hopping Michael Bloomberg. Another former mayor, Edward Koch, also a Democrat, chose to side with Bloomberg because he says, "Freddy Ferrer can't hold a candle to Mike Bloomberg." Koch sees nothing wrong with crossing party lines to support Bloomberg.
On the same day that Hillary Clinton announced her support of Ferrer, Bloomberg announced his disapproval of the Chief Justice candidate Judge John G. Roberts, Jr. In the hopes of a ticket back to the White House, Hillary Clinton alternates between catering to the needs of the centrists and staying faithful to the party she is supposed to, but never has, embodied. On Bloomberg's side, it was a tactical move to send a message to the New York Democrats: I may have switched parties to avoid a difficult primary run off and am borrowing Giuliani's post-9/11 glory, but I am still a Democrat.
While Democrats view Mr. Bloomberg as a party hopper, Libertarians see Mr. Bloomberg as a party pooper. He enraged Libertarians in 2004 with his high taxes on cigarettes. Bloomberg raised cigarette taxes after the state of New York already increased cigarette taxes by 39 cents to $1.50. The Manhattan Libertarian Party protested by purchasing cheaper cigarettes online and sponsoring a giveaway. In addition, while pushing the crime rate down an additional 20 percent since his election, he helped increase property taxes and assumed direct control of the school system. He raises taxes. He refuses to privatize anything. In that respect, Mr. Bloomberg goes against his business impulse.
In his early days as mayor, Bloomberg did not warm the Republican Party to his character. In November 2001, Bloomberg spoke at the breakfast for veterans and did not follow in the footsteps of Rudolph Giuliani or Governor Pataki. He failed to profusely praise Bush in his speech.
Despite the criticism, Bloomberg relentlessly tries to win over the Republican Party. During the 2004 Presidential election, Bloomberg gave $2,000 and $25,000 to George W. Bush and the Republican National Committee respectively. He is also no friend to "corporate welfare". In recent years, the strategy was to use large tax breaks to keep businesses in the city. The chances of some of the companies offered the tax breaks leaving are quite slim, since they included New York Times and the New York Stock Exchange. As much as a mayor has influence in stopping this practice, mayor Bloomberg broke with it.
However, it is difficult to win over the Republican Party while being a believer in big government. When Andrew Haughwout and Nathaniel Hilger of New York's Federal Reserve analyzed 27 American cities in 2001-02, their research indicated that New York's spending is three times larger per person than the average city. Spending increased six times on education, and 17 more times on public welfare.
No party truly wants to claim Bloomberg, yet he is still leading the polls. Fifty-eight percent of New York residents want to vote for him, compared with only 38 percent that wish to vote for his opponent. The reason is that despite Bloomberg not having support from virtually anyone prominent, New York is overwhelmingly Democrat. With the constitution of the State of New York requiring "aid, care and support of the needy," it would be political suicide to not embody some liberal ideals. Even Rudolph Giuliani, who had the support of the Republican White House, was pro-gun control, pro-choice, pro-racial quotas, and pro-gay rights.
Fortunately for Bloomberg, he is an extremely self-sufficient businessman. After founding a business-information and media firm, he used $73 million of his own money to finance his election campaign. He is not indebted to unions or interest groups. He takes little pay for the onerous job as mayor, and does not express ambitions of pursuing higher office. The man relied solely on running his city like a business: conducting market research and recruiting experts to create policy.
The only people we can trust are the wealthiest politicians, since they cannot be bought by interest groups and other political parasites. How can you be bought if you are the buyer? Michael Bloomberg, the self-sufficient businessman, will prove again to be equally self-sufficient politician.
Columnist Karolina Lula, an NCAS economics and political science major, is executive vice president of the SGA.