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Bloomberg, Gillibrand and the Latest Challenger
March 15th, 2010

Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s antipathy for Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, apparent to all who watched his unsuccessful efforts to recruit Harold Ford and Mortimer Zuckerman to challenge her — emerged into open political discourse Saturday as the Times published an article on Gillibrand’s fruitless campaign to win over the mayor.

The story portrays Gillibrand as mystified by the mayor’s attitude and offers a few none-too-convincing theories: her flip-flopping on gun laws (even though she flipped to the Bloomberg side), her alleged lack of conviction (the Times, forgetting about term limits and terror trials, said, Bloomberg (”prides himself on his willingness to stand up for principles, whatever the political cost”) and her coming from a political family.

The Albany Project, though, thinks the Times omits the likeliest explanation: ” Nowhere does the story mention Caroline Kennedy, Bloomberg’s very public candidate for the Senate appointment” that went to Gillibrand, the blog says.

Running Scared agrees. “It’s entirely possible that all of this has nothing to do with the black eye Bloomberg and Sheekey and the Times got when their efforts on behalf of Caroline Kennedy, their high-profile candidate to be appointed to Hillary Clinton’s seat, went very badly indeed and the seat, messily, went to Gillibrand,” the blog comments. “I feel certain the Times would have mentioned that.”

As much as she tries to woo the mayor it will likely be for naught, the Albany Project concludes: “There is nothing she can do or say to change Bloomberg’s conceit that that Senate seat should be held by someone who is personally beholden to him.”

Daniel on the Talking Point Reader Blog concurs. “Bloomberg is a controlling figure,” he writes. “He’s used to doing things his way especially when he’s in charge. So what he probably really wants out of Gillibrand is someone who will check with the mayor before she votes for — anything. ”

The latest Bloomberg ally who was rumored as a challenger to Gillibrand is former state banking official Diana Taylor, Bloomberg’s significant other. Saturday, though, Taylor ruled that out.

That leaves Dan Senor. Senor, often described as a Bush loyalist, served as an advisor to the Iraqi coalition government in 2004 and 2005 and defended the policies from those days in the New York Times. He recently met with Bloomberg’s political operative Kevin Sheekey.

Writing on Talking Pont Café, j. Rosenberg expresses doubts about the neoconservative Senor’s strength as a candidate: “He’s from Ohio. No one has ever heard of him. And pretty much everyone in New York (especially African-Americans and Jews) hated the Iraq war and despise the neocons who lied us into it.” (Of course we never learned how Bloomberg felt about all that.)

Senor might want to consider an embrace with Bloomberg. Whatever the mayor’s power, wealth and ability, he does not do too well in getting his allies in the Senate. Just ask Kennedy, Ford and Zuckerman.

By Gail Robinson on March 15, 2010, 2:30 pm
In category: Electoral Politics, Gotham City | 2 Comments »

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2 Responses to “Bloomberg, Gillibrand and the Latest Challenger”

  1. jane trahey Says:
    March 15th, 2010 at 3:11 pm

    It’s “Mortimer Zuckerman,” not “Morton.”

  2. Gail Robinson Says:
    March 15th, 2010 at 5:30 pm

    You’re correct, of course. Thanks for the heads up and I’ll fix it.

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