Three years ago, he attacked Mayor Bloomberg as an out-of-touch billionaire, but yesterday Rep. Anthony Weiner told business executives that Bloomberg is an innovative reformer and that the mayor’s agenda is also his agenda.
“The irony’s going to be – I don’t know if the mayor believes this – but I think probably years from now, when the mayor looks back and says, ‘Who was there who did the agenda that I cared about?’ I think he’s going to find that I’m the kind of pro-development person [who qualifies],” Weiner said at a Crain’s New York Business forum.
When he first ran for mayor in 2005, Weiner criticized Bloomberg on issues ranging from education to taxation.
In June 2005, Weiner called Bloomberg “out of touch . . . with the lives of so many New Yorkers.”
Several people attending yesterday’s forum said they consider Weiner the front-runner in the 2009 mayoral race.
Although Weiner said he continues to have policy differences with the mayor, he praised him for improving schools, setting a “groundbreaking” environmental agenda and innovating government.