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Bloomberg, Tough Guy
January 27th, 2006

After watching Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s State of the City address, both the New York Post and the Daily News noted how much more assertive the mayor has become.

In an article entitled “He shed Clark Kent image and turns into a Superman,” Daily News City Hall Bureau chief David Saltonstall writes that this year Bloomberg has picked some serious fights — against Larry Silverstein, against the National Rifle Association, against unions, against “do-nothing Albany legislators.” Compare that, writes Saltonstall, to the “tentative accountant” whose big promise in his first State of the City was to cut his office staff.

Saltonstall’s counterpart at the Post, David Seifman, writes that “suddenly, Mike Bloomberg’s Mr. Tough Guy in public.” After a 19-point victory in the last election and no future political ambitions, “Bloomberg can afford to pull a lot fewer punches,” Seifman notes.

He gives credit to Bloomberg for setting concrete goals on diabetes and poverty, which come as a refreshing contrast to “the hard-to-measure promises [that] are the usual staple of State of the City speeches.”

By Joshua Brustein on January 27, 2006, 7:56 am
In category: Gotham City | 1 Comment »

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One Response to “Bloomberg, Tough Guy”

  1. Larry Littlefield Says:
    January 27th, 2006 at 8:24 am

    Bloomberg has promised to enhance pension benefits for existing teachers, and Giuliani agreed to two big pension deals in his administration. These provided political support in the short run.

    Now Bloomberg wants to cut pensions and benefits for future generations, after having already imposed lower salaries for most of his workforce. This will lower the quality of public services in the long run.

    You’re not a tough guy when you take the easy road of selling out the future. Your not a tough guy when you give more to those who have power and sell out those with less privilege.

    He want to be tough? Let him tell the unions he want to offset all the past “screw the newbie and flee to Florida” deals by raising pay for new hires, in part by having them work a little longer and in part by making EXISTING RETIREES pay more for health care.

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