Mayor Bloomberg has helped land a job for a state senator who lost his re-election bid last year after coming out in support of charter schools — a post at Bloomberg LP.
Craig Johnson told friends and associates in an e-mail that he’s now working for Bloomberg Law, a division of the mayor’s information-services company that’s positioning itself as a competitor to Lexis/Nexis.
A Democrat representing Port Washington, LI, Johnson defied his party when he voted to expand charter schools. That won him accolades and financial support from Bloomberg, a charter champion.
But Johnson lost to Republican Jack Martins by 415 votes. Martins used Johnson’s charter vote against him by claiming he was “doing what’s best for New York City” instead of Long Island.
“I wasn’t about to let him go to some other company,” the mayor said yesterday. “I was thrilled to see my company hired him. I didn’t have anything to do with that. When I was told they were talking to him, I had a big smile on my face.” David Seifman