What’s worse: the mayor spending his money on his message, or politicians spending your money on their message?
In the wake of City Council votes to impose an inspector general on the police and subject them to more lawsuits, Mayor Bloomberg made it clear there would be consequences. He’s vowed to use some of his personal wealth to lobby council members to uphold his expected veto of these bills.
The move has mayoral wannabes Bill de Blasio and Christine Quinn crying foul. “It’s time for the people to make decisions in this town again, not billionaires,” says de Blasio. Quinn agrees: “I don’t think money should be involved in lobbying council members. No, of course not.”
Funny thing: Neither de Blasio nor Quinn has any problem participating in a campaign-finance system that allows them (via matching funds) to lobby you with your money. On top of that, Quinn as speaker also doles out your dollars to nonprofits, many run by people who return the favor by contributing to her run for mayor.
You don’t have to agree with the mayor’s message on the NYPD bills, but at least he’s using his dollars and not yours.