Michael Bloomberg, Next President or Next Mayor?

Bloomberg's potential Presidential bid would be organized by familiar band of aides. This cast of people advising former Mayor Michael Bloomberg on his latest prospective Presidential campaign is well known to New York's political class.

The possible makeup of the proto-campaign: Bloomberg's former City Hall Deputy Howard Wolfson, Bradley Tusk, who managed Bloomberg's 2010 re-election campaign, and Kevin Sheekey, a former Deputy Mayor.

Should polarizing outsiders Donald Trump or Sen. Ted Cruz become the Republican nominee, and self-proclaimed socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders get the Democratic nod, the billionaire former Mayor would run as a centrist, independent candidate. And he will reportedly make his decision in the first week of March and willing to put $1 Billion into a campaign.

That, at least, is his hope. Bloomberg hoped the same thing in 2008. But no swell of support for him developed. Instead, he settled for running again for Mayor.

Can history repeat itself?

In running for a third Mayoral term in 2009, Bloomberg had a problem: the city’s two-term limit law, which Bloomberg promised to abide by when he first ran in 2001. Instead, he repealed the law. Then after his re-election in 2009, he backed a return to a Mayoral two-term limit law.

Many people consider Bloomberg a successful Mayor. Major construction was begun across the city, from the Second Avenue subway to the West Side High Line. When it came to law enforcement, Bloomberg placed all power in NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly. After the Mayor, Kelly became the most powerful person in city government and the longest-serving Police Commissioner in city history.

In 2008, when Bloomberg first considered a Presidential bid, Kelly considered running for Mayor. Since leaving the department in 2014, Kelly has again made noises that he may run.

But if history repeats itself, Bloomberg will again not run for President. With Mayor Bill de Blasio struggling in the polls, Bloomberg could pull the rug out from Kelly as he did in 2008 and decide to run again for Mayor in 2017.

He wouldn’t have to worry about term limits. The law, reinstated by voters in 2010, applies to two consecutive terms.

When I was an elected official of the New York City Independence Party Organizations, I worked on Bloomberg's three Mayoral campaigns.











NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote! Michael H. Drucker

Michael Bloomberg Considering Running for Mayor of London

Friends of Bloomberg and Conservatives across the pond are seeking to draft the billionaire anglophile to run next year in the London mayoral election as the Tory candidate.

The current mayor, Boris Johnson, of a city of 8.5 million, is term limited and is thinking of running for Prime Minister in May 2016.

Steve Hilton, a trusted adviser to British Prime Minister David Cameron, is urging Bloomberg to run.  “It would be an incredible coup for London if Mike Bloomberg could be persuaded to run for mayor here,” Hilton said.  “His kind of pragmatic, problem-solving leadership is exactly what London needs.”

Hilton said he previously discussed the possibility of a Bloomberg run with Conservative Cameron and Finance Minister George Osborne back in 2008, before Johnson was nominated as the Tory pick for mayor, but abandoned the plan when Bloomberg announced he would run for a third term in New York.  Johnson also discussed the idea with Bloomberg.  “Mike is an enormous friend of London. He’s a great contributor to the city. He’s got many supporters and admirers, of which Boris is definitely one,” a source said.

After his mayoralty ended in 2013, Bloomberg began spending a lot of time and money in London, building “Bloomberg Palace,” a two-tower skyscraper, on the site of Roman temple ruins.

CLICK HERE to view London Office.

He owns a $20 million town house in the city by the Thames and sits on the board of the Serpentine Galleries.

Queen Elizabeth II bestowed him with an honorary knighthood in 2014 for his entrepreneurial and philanthropic work in the UK.  “I am deeply honored to receive this recognition, which is especially meaningful to me because of my close . . . ties to London and Britain,” he said at the time.  Bloomberg added Britain is “a place I have long considered my second home.”

However, he is not a citizen of the UK or the European Union, a prerequisite for running for mayor.  But his investment in the country would allow him to become a citizen just by asking.

Rich foreigners can fast-track their applications for British residency by investing $15 million in the UK, but that still takes two years.  Tory politicians could speed up the process because Bloomberg has invested at least $745 million in the UK, sources told the Sunday Times.  “We don’t think it would be a problem,” insisted a source familiar with the discussions.

Both Bloomberg’s daughters, Emma, 36, and Georgina, 32, are British citizens, as is his ex-wife, Susan Brown, born in the UK.











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Cities of Service Organization

Michael Bloomberg is spinning off one of his foundation’s programs into a stand-alone nonprofit that will expand its efforts to help mayors across the nation put volunteers to work on specific challenges, such as fighting obesity or beautifying neighborhoods.

The group, Cities of Service, will be led by one of the former New York City mayor’s government employees and is the second organization focused on cities that Mr. Bloomberg has started since leaving office.  The first, Bloomberg Associates, is a consulting organization that will provide free advice to cities.

Bloomberg Philanthropies is providing a $4.6-million grant to Cities of Service to cover its operating expenses for three years as the new executive director, Myung Lee, hires a staff of six to eight people and finds a new office.

Cities of Service efforts focus on “impact volunteering” — volunteer strategies that target community needs, use best practices, and set clear outcomes and measures to gauge progress.

Cities of Service is leading a multi-year effort to engage mayors across the country by:

•Developing a comprehensive service plan and a coordinated strategy focused on matching volunteers and established community partners to the areas of greatest local need.

•Working with other mayors and elected officials to advance strategies and best practices that accelerate the service movement and produce measurable results.

•Encouraging other mayors to join this national effort to engage our citizens.

•Ensuring that the voice of cities is heard in federal legislative, policy, and program discussions related to service, which will help the country achieve the ambitious goals of the Serve America Act.

CLICK HERE for more information about Cities of Service.










NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote!

Michael H. Drucker
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Backing an Independent in Maine

I have been watching the Maine Senate race were Augus King, the former independent Governor, is running as an independent.

We now find out that Americans Elect has become the super PAC in support of King. The ad buy so far is from Oct. 5-25.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg donated $500,000. The other two major donors are Peter Ackerman, one of the Americans Elect founders, and John Burbank, the founder of Passport Capital, gave $500,000 and $750,000, respectively.

This super PAC in support of King, countered spending from the NRSC and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in support of Republican Charlie Summers. It's the first pro-King advertising from an outside group, in a race where the GOP is pouring in resources amid a shifting Senate battleground.

The NRSC, National Republican Senatorial Committee, has filed a complaint with the FEC about the involvement of Americans Elect.

I hope this support for independent candidates becomes a template for the future, so independent candidates will be elected to take away the two-party's majority in Congress.









NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote!

Michael H. Drucker
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