Mayor Bloomberg unloaded big time on Albany today, charging that many legislators are party hacks who could never get real jobs in private industry.
“The average legislator who has to make policy on things that influence our lives, our kids’ lives, our future, would they ever get a job in the private sector making policy on big things? No, not a chance,” the mayor said.
“And yet these are the ones we keep re-electing. You’ve got to ask yourself why. The parties control the mechanism…”
When he was asked if the corruption scandal that’s rocking the state capital could get any worse, Bloomberg initially said it couldn’t before deciding it could.
“I don’t see how it can get much worse. You can only have every two days another scandal,” the mayor said on his weekly WOR radio show. “I guess you could have one every day.”
Although he didn’t mention anyone by name, Bloomberg went off on political family dynasties that hold power in Albany and elsewhere.
“What I love is you see these families, one after another after another,” he said. “Sometimes they don’t even change the literature.”
The mayor himself is one of the largest donors to state Senate Republicans.
Last year, he hedged his political bets by also contributing $75,000 to the Independent Democratic Caucus that includes Sen. Malcolm Smith (D-Queens).
Smith is among the politicians snared this week by US Attorney Preet Bharara.
Marc LaVorgna, the mayor’s spokesman, pointed out that Bloomberg was working within a system he tried to change and that almost no one else stood with him to push for non-partisan elections.
“The mayor is the only person who tried to end the partisan political system in the city — pouring a lot of money and effort into it,” said LaVorgna. “He didn’t get much support, so we are left with the current system and the problems that come with it.”