From the start, a running theme of the mayoral campaign was whether Mayor Bloomberg would endorse Christine Quinn or just quietly support her. The issue might soon be moot.
Quinn is sinking like a stone as Bill de Blasio jumps to a huge lead over the field. Even if she manages to get into a primary runoff, she would be a big underdog to either de Blasio or Bill Thompson.
In one-on-one matchups, both would beat her by more than 25 points, a new Quinnipiac poll finds.
Quinn’s likely demise, then, presents Bloomberg with a challenge, or, as I see it, an opportunity. He gets a fresh chance to help elect the candidate most likely to build on his legacy of being anti-crime and pro-business. That would be Joe Lhota.
The leading Republican, Lhota already enjoys the support of his former boss Rudy Giuliani. Having the last two successful mayors stand together to support Lhota would be a powerful message to estranged Democrats and other sensible New Yorkers alarmed by the candidates’ dangerous pandering.
Their ad writes itself: “Over the last 20 years, our administrations have made New York safer and more prosperous. We don’t agree on everything, but we believe Joe has the best experience and plans to keep the city moving in the right direction. He knows how government works, and shares our commitment to public safety, more jobs and a budget that is fair to both taxpayers and workers.”
Seeing the former mayors together on television and in campaign mailers could shock the political system. It would make discouraged voters realize they have a real choice in the general election. Especially against the surging de Blasio, the most far left of the Dems, Lhota’s centrist positions on crime, spending and taxes would be all the more appealing.
Bloomberg and Giuliani are not close friends, but they’re political allies, owing to Giuliani’s endorsement of Bloomberg in 2001. Their combined five victories proved they could win and govern this bluest of cities.
Most important, their two decades in City Hall produced an unbroken pattern of falling crime and saved Gotham from the fate of other cities. Crime creates a stampede for the exits, drives down property values and leads to an erosion of basic services. Crime creates poverty as employers flee.
That’s where New York was headed before Giuliani grabbed it by the lapels in 1994 and started the historic turnaround. Bloom–berg, amazingly, is still improving on that record.
Serious crimes, including murder, are down by 80 percent in the last 20 years. It’s a man-made miracle.
Now it’s all at risk. De Blasio’s momentum and his pro-tax, anti-police agenda have forced the campaign to the left edge. Thompson and Quinn, in full panic mode, are jettisoning even symbolic gestures of moderation.
A half-baked judge’s ruling that elements of stop-and-frisk are unconstitutional also helped turn the primary into a test of who can hit top cop Ray Kelly the hardest. It is a disgusting spectacle to watch the public smearing of a man who deserves a parade in the Canyon of Heroes.
Quinn, for example, has worked closely with Bloomberg and Kelly as council speaker since 2006, but recently said she would keep Kelly only if he implemented “stop-and-frisk in the way that I want it implemented.”
Thompson, focused almost exclusively on turning out black voters, said in an ad that the first step in his anti-crime plan would be to “fire Ray Kelly.”
It’s also likely they or, especially, a Mayor de Blasio would dismantle much of the anti-terror programs Kelly created. Their pre 9/11 mindset could get New Yorkers killed.
The three Republican candidates — Lhota, George McDonald and John Catsimatidis — promise to support the police, but Lhota’s experience and skills set him apart. As a former budget director and deputy mayor under Giuliani, he knows what a difference leadership makes.
As chairman of the MTA, he protected the trains during Superstorm Sandy, which allowed the system to get back up faster than anyone anticipated.
His candidacy means New York doesn’t have to turn back the clock on progress. If Giuliani and Bloomberg unite behind him, the cliché that the “city’s best days are yet to come” actually could be true.
Otherwise, run for your life.