Mayor Michael Bloomberg got a jolting surprise today when a commercial on his radio show unexpectedly blared out “Weiner must resign!” just moments after the mayor offered his standard non-answer to a question about whether the raunchy congressman had to go.
For days, Bloomberg has refused to weigh on the Weiner mess, suggesting the press is paying too much attention to the X-rated scandal and not enough to more important issues such as the economy and immigration.
When WOR radio host John Gambling asked if elected officials should be held to a higher standard, the mayor said they should if they commit a crime.
He doubled back to say that elected officials already face tougher scrutiny because their transgressions end up as front-page news.
When the exchange ended, Bloomberg’s view of Weiner remained as clouded as ever.
Moments later, it was time for a commercial break.
The mayor was checking e-mail messages on his smartphone just as an announcer intoned “Disgraceful!” and “Liar!” over a soundtrack of Weiner’s press conference earlier this week admitting he had lied about sending sexually-charged messages to female admirers.
“Anthony Weiner has disgraced the House of Representatives. He’s not fit to serve in Congress. He must resign now,” the ad continued.
It referred listeners to a website, weinermustresign.com, run by Diane Gooch, a one-time Republican congressional candidate in New Jersey.
Bloomberg reacted by looking up “kind of quizzically,” said spokesman Stu Loeser.
Loeser said the mayor had no idea that the anti-Weiner ad would be on his weekly show.
When the radio show resumed, the discussion turned to the economy — one of the topics the mayor said was more important than Weiner-gate.