Bloomberg Spends $85 Million On Campaign—SO FAR

By spending $85 million on his third mayoral campaign so far, Mayor Bloomberg entered the history books. The NY Times proclaims, "He has now spent more of his own money than any other individual in United States history in the pursuit of public office," and say the billionaire "is on pace to spend between $110 million and $140 million before the election on Nov. 3."

The way the Daily News calculates it, Bloomberg has basically spent $1 million a day on his campaign. Bloomberg campaign spokesman Howard Wolfson said, "We are not going to spend a dime more than we have to. We are going to spend what we need to in order to be successful in this election. That's the goal."

Well, the Times points out that while much of the money is spent on TV, radio, and Internet advertising, "much of it bankrol ls a first-class approach to parties, snacks and travel. The campaign has spent $322,521 on food, $293,953 on transportation, $176,066 on furniture and $39,858 on parking... With more than 100 employees, his campaign now has a staff larger than 97 percent of all businesses in New York City."

NYPIRG staff attorney Gene Russianoff said, "Whether Bloomberg wins or loses, the toxic combination of mega-spending and crass use of his office to bypass the voters on term limits will always be a stain on his mayoralty." And the campaign of Bloomberg's Democratic challenger, Bill Thompson, called the spending "obscene" and noted that it had received donations from over 3,000 people in the past three weeks. Those donations added up to $270,000 is half as much as Mark Green and Fernando Ferrer raised in the same period in 2001 and 2005.

The Times' editorial board also endorsed Bloomberg today: "The Democratic nominee, Comptroller William Thompson, is a worthy opponent. Mr. Thompson has been a competent comptroller in a turbulent period and is a quiet, conciliatory man. But he has spent too much of his campaign attacking Mayor Bloomberg rather than explaining how he would manage the city, and Mr. Bloomberg is simply the stronger candidate... We enthusiastically endorse Mayor Michael Bloomberg for re-election."

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Jen Chung in News on October 24, 2009 11:17 AM

Comments [rss]

JacqueMehoff

HaHa, tinyAmericanFlags got outed.

and, I've noticed 311 doesn't seem to work well in the outer boroughs. you still have people ripping off the poor and not getting their fair share.

anyone remember when he made a snippy remark on shoveling snow? one of many along with the wheelchair guy who got his richie rich stare.

cxb

Wow! Look at "tinyAmericanflags" post above and tell me that doesn't smell like a BLOOMBAG STAFFER WROTE IT!

(You can easily spot a Bloombag troll: they have NOTHING bad to say about Tax HIke MIke. B/c even Mike FANS admit he did many bad things, from the Term Limits scandal to the Ground Zero scandals to the Yankee Stadium scandals to the Bruce Ratner scandals and on and on.)

NOTE: if Mike is on the Republican line, then he LIED about being "independent" b/c no independent would ever be on the ballot of either of the major MACHINE PARTIES.

(Duh.)

Better luck next time, Mike!

tinyAmericanflags

I'll take Big Bucks Bloomie over Bill Thompson any day - I thought Thompson was a schmuck when he was city comptroller, but he'd be a disaster as mayor. I'm just glad I don't have to vote for Bloomberg on the Republican line now that he's got the Independence Party (column C) endorsement.

inoyourider

Good let him keep spending, hopefully locally.

mrjoepost

check out Bloomberg's money at work

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5paK6bpHgqg

cxb

YOU ALL FORGET that Tax HIke Mike spent hundreds of millions of YOUR TAX DOLLARS already on self-promotion.

(All incumbents do. It's just obscene that y'all forgot that---without spending a cent of his own cash---Bloombag has already outspent Thompson by over $100 million TAX DOLLARS for his daily PR stunts and photo ops, and so on.)

MORE INSIGHT:

I'll be shocked if Bloombag WINS.

He broke almost every campaign promise he made, and everyone is suffering in NYC. (Even the limos slam into the 900,000 potholes around NYC---8 years after Tax Hike Mike began fixing them!) (Go visit the Upper East Side. The roads are as third world as they are in Bushwick.)

100% of Mike's "Support" is a phantom. Everyone is kissing the emperor's ass, but NO ONE thinks he's really dressed well.

So why are many of you falling for this ancient trick?

Want to read about tons of SCANDALS the entire media kept secret from you (in exchange for over $200 million cash)?

BloombergScandals.blogspot.com

(B/c Gothamist sure as hell ain't gonna be reporting BLoombag's super-scandals!)

xnan

If I could vote against him more than once, I definitely would. From the Village Voice/Wayne Barrett's article, "Bloomberg Keeps His Billions Separate From His Mayoral Obligations? Yeah, Right!" SHOULD BE REQUIRED reading!!
<ul>

http://www.villagevoice.com/2009-09-01/news/bloomberg-keeps-his-billions-separate-from-his-mayoral-obligations-yeah-right/</ul> Read it and THEN try telling me how fucking wonderful he is.

Better idea might have been (notwithstanding that whole little overturning-the-will-of-the-voters thingie): just GIVE the city $50 or $60 million or so, then run on how terrific you REALLY are for the city. Return $25 to $50 million in change to "mad money" account. Order in Chinese. Take nap.

Yechhhh.

eyekantspel

Seems like a real waste of $$ and I doubt it's swaying people one way or the other-- if anything, there might be some backlash. Still, the guy has billions, and if he wants to spend some in NYC on his campaign, that's his decision. At worst, it's keeping people employed delivering fliers no one reads.

I probably would have voted against Bloomberg based on the term limit issue alone IF his opponent wasn't lame-duck Bill Thompson. Has that guy ever DONE anything? I just read his entire website bio, and I'm not impressed. http://www.thompson2009.com/site/pages/about-bill-extended A career politician with no real accomplishments. Sorry, I can't imagine we'd be better off with him running things. I'd rather stick with Bloomberg than risk giving control to Thompson.

schizofriendly

I will never know what to make of our mayor.

felixthecat2

http://www.nycisnot4sale.com/

felixthecat2

http://nymag.com/news/politics/60161/

Mike Bloomberg Owns This Town

With shrewdness and luck, an imperious idea of democracy, and plenty of money, the mayor has made himself the only political player in New York who really matters.

felixthecat2

They didn't include the 1/2 million that he personally gave to the Republican and Independent party to run on their line and not to mention all the backdoor dealings he made with taxpayers' money for endorsement. We're Fucked literally if people don't smarten up.

felixthecat2

He is looking strangely at the poor baby, where the hell is the mother before he eats the infant? What a loser, spends 85 million and I will still vote against him.

Mr Mel

Yeah right, he's a loser.

freddynyc

Why do babies have such big heads?

S.D.

Wow, so much and I'll still vote against him...

longacre

Seems kind of unnecessary. If he spent the same amount as Thompson it would be closer but he'd still win just based on being the incumbent and name recognition.

chortik

whatever, he's a good mayor, i wouldn't mind having him run the city another term. hard to think of a more qualified individual to do so.

The Edge

good mayor?

you're being sarcastic... right?

Steven

I'll be shocked and stunned if Bloomberg is not re-elected.

goodcow

Fuck Bloomberg.

Jen S

He should just send each New Yorker $10 and call it a win.

JacqueMehoff

why is he spending so much when he's running on his Record?

shouldn't his record speak for itself?

then why does it need to be hammered in 100 millions dollars of campaign spending?

how much of that money is going into the local economy?

vote the bought bums out.

marcasm

For the past few weeks Bloomberg has been plastering Gothamist with ads. Just out of curiosity, why is he never mentioned when you thank this weeks advertisers ? In fact, as I write this, I am staring at his "choose progress" ad.