Now it’s war!
Mayor Bloomberg hit the breaking point yesterday over longtime ally Christine Quinn’s Big Brother NYPD watchdog plan — saying the City Council speaker is shelving common sense for political ambition.
“It would take away a lot of power from the mayor,” Bloomberg said on his weekly radio show.
“It’s the first time I’ve ever seen people who want to be the executive try to denude the office before they get it.”
A defiant Quinn — the front-runner to succeed Bloomberg — fired right back, accusing the mayor of “empty rhetoric” and of being “dead wrong.”
“This bill, when it becomes law, would not — as Mayor Bloomberg said this morning — denude the mayor’s authority since the mayor’s own commissioner would be responsible for the monitoring,” she said.
It was the harshest language the Manhattan Democrat has publicly used against the billionaire mayor, who has long been a supporter of Quinn.
Bloomberg also took a shot at Quinn by referencing her Democratic mayoral rival’s thoughts on the plan, which would institute an inspector general within the city Department of Investigation to monitor NYPD policies and procedures like stop-and-frisk.
“I thought Bill Thompson, who is running for mayor, said it very well,” Bloomberg said. “He said, ‘I’m worried about stop-and-frisk. I’m also worried about my son getting killed.’
“And, unfortunately, there are neighborhoods in this city where crime is higher than in others.”
He plans to veto the bill but faces a likely council override.
“It’s totally political and total pandering to a handful of people,” he said. “This is just one of the worst-conceived ideas.
“If you go to these communities where there is crime, overwhelmingly, the people want the cops to bring back peace and safety to their community,” the mayor said, suggesting an IG’s Office would impede such efforts.
“There’s a handful of people who yell and scream” about the police, he said. “This bill, it really is incredible. We have brought crime down so much. There used to be . . . 2,300 murders [a year].”
Bloomberg also blasted Quinn’s bill for creating confusion over who is in charge of the NYPD.
“This bill would create a second commissioner,” he said. “It would leave every cop wondering whose rules does he follow?”
He said it’s baffling that Quinn would take power away from the very office she is seeking.
“You’re running to have the authority to make a difference and help people, and you take away the power the current law gives the executive to make decisions?” Bloomberg asked.
“You can’t do everything in the Legislature. You have to have an executive that can make decisions.”
Quinn scoffed at Bloomberg’s criticism, calling it an “unfortunate misrepresentation.”
“The claim that appropriate monitoring of the NYPD would compromise public safety is empty rhetoric supported by no evidence at all,” she said.
“The bill will give DOI no ability to make, change or implement policy or procedure.”
She also noted that crime in Los Angeles “fell by 33 percent” after that city adopted a police inspector general. And, she said, the FBI’s IG Office has “improved the functioning of the FBI.”
Thompson, who lost the 2009 mayoral election to Bloomberg, seized on the opportunity yesterday to kick Quinn’s shins.
“It is interesting that the speaker has put this legislation forward, largely in response to the concerns about stop-and-frisk,” Thompson said.
“At the same point, she continues to say she’s going to keep [NYPD Commissioner Ray] Kelly. I do think it’s a bit of a contradiction, and perhaps a bit of trying to have your cake and eat it, too.”