Mayor Bloomberg plans to back Joe Lhota for mayor if Bill de Blasio wins the Democratic nomination on Tuesday, sources have told The Post.
City Hall insiders said Hizzoner — fearing the Democratic public advocate would dismantle his 12-year legacy if elected mayor — has warmed up to the former MTA chairman and deputy to Rudy Giuliani.
The Republican Lhota said he would welcome the embrace of Bloomberg, an independent.
“Mike Bloomberg and I had a discussion back in January. He’s staying out of the primary,” Lhota said yesterday morning on Fox’s “Good Day New York.”
“I will talk to him next Tuesday night-Wednesday morning about the future and where we are going,” he added.
Meanwhile, de Blasio, who continues to lead in Democratic primary polls, played the race card against Lhota on the Rev. Al Sharpton’s radio show yesterday.
He cited a story by The Christian Science Monitor that claimed Lhota’s campaign surveyed voters about de Blasio’s marriage to a black woman, Chirlane McCray.
Lhota vehemently denied putting out a poll that asked about any candidate’s family.
“It’s absolutely wrong. There’s no place for that in this world,” Lhota said.
He said the polls his campaign have commissioned inquired only about his Republican rivals.
“We have never polled anything on the Democratic side,” he said.
But de Blasio didn’t wait to hear Lhota’s rebuttal before linking his potential GOP rival to what he called the “racial bias and division” of Giuliani’s mayoralty.
“I know who Joe Lhota worked for. He worked for Rudy Giuliani. He was the top deputy for Rudy Giuliani when Rudy was dividing this city as a matter of political strategy,” de Blasio told Sharpton.
“Let’s face it, you and I went through every minute of the Rudy Giuliani era. We saw the worst appeals to racial bias and division.”
It was believed early on that Bloomberg would back Democratic Council Speaker Christine Quinn for mayor. But polls show her struggling to make the Democratic runoff, and the mayor has soured on some of her positions.
Meanwhile, Lhota’s closest competitor in the Republican race, billionaire John Catsimatidis, sent out two campaign mailers that attacked Lhota for supporting a commuter tax — without mentioning that Catsimatidis himself once did, too.
“Lhota wants to bring back the commuter tax,” a mailer reads.
Asked during an NY1 debate in July whether he supported the tax, Catsimatidis had said “yes.”
But he has flipped on the issue.
“John Catsimatidis took a close look at the commuter tax and realized it is a job-killing tax. John opposes any tax that will kill jobs or hurt the New York City economy,” the mailer reads.
Giuliani, who is backing Lhota, has fired back in a robo call that will be sent out to voters this weekend. He will also stump throughout the city this weekend to help elect his former deputy.
“Joe Lhota is New York, and he’s ready to be our mayor. I just can’t stand by anymore and watch a great leader be attacked,” the former mayor said. “Joe’s opponent’s attacks are false, they’re desperate, and they are just plain wrong.”
In other campaign developments, Democratic candidate Bill Thompson proposed a plan to provide free first-year tuition to students at CUNY who graduate high school with a “B” average.
And the teachers union’s political action committee unveiled a TV ad promoting Thompson, a former city comptroller and Board of Education president.
The ad, titled “Forgotten” and featuring an adorable girl in a stroller, is aimed at appealing to black and Latino voters.
For her part, Quinn stumped through The Bronx, promoting her plan to help immigrant-run businesses.