Friday, July 06, 2007

Mike Bloomberg... Still a Republican?

At least if you believe that we vote with our dollars:

On June 19, shortly before Mr. Bloomberg announced that he was leaving the Republican Party, he telephoned the state’s most powerful Republican, Joseph L. Bruno, the Senate majority leader.

The mayor wanted Mr. Bruno to know the announcement was coming. But Mr. Bloomberg, a major contributor to New York Republicans, also sought to reassure the majority leader that despite the change, he would still back Mr. Bruno and his Republican colleagues in the Senate...

Mr. Bloomberg’s support for Republican candidates is critical; the mayor has been the biggest individual donor to Senate Republicans, according to state campaign finance records, giving $575,000 since October. He also gave the New York State Republican Committee $175,000 in the same period. (During that time, by contrast, he did not donate to any Democrats in the Legislature.)

The Bloomberg team portrays this as nothing more than his doing what he thinks best to protect the interests of New York City. However, Republicans in the State Assembly -- which is overwhelmingly Democratic -- regard him as an ally as well. Since they can do nothing to help New York City, what is his motivation?

1 comment:

Philo-Junius said...

Better question:

Was Bruno ever a Republican in any meaningful sense of the word?