Ferrer vs. Bloomberg

Ferrer vs. Bloomberg
Sirotablog readers: My name is Joel Barkin and I’m the Executive Director for the Progressive Legislative Action Network (PLAN). I’ve been living in New York for the last 8 months, mostly working in city politics. I have had the opportunity to work closely with those involved in New York City’s Mayors race. Sadly, the question now is now whether or not Freddy Ferrer will win, but by how much will he lose. It is unfortunate.
Having met Freddy many times and him seen on the trail, I can honestly say that he’s a good man. He’s got strong core values and I think is much more in touch with the average New Yorker than Michael Bloomberg. Freddy has made most of his race about being a Democrat and tying Bloomberg to Bush. I think this strategy may have worked on a Federal race, but voters don’t seem to be buying it in this election. As much as people loathe George Bush in New York, when voting for Mayor, New Yorkers first look at a candidate’s ability to lead. To be sure, Michael Bloomberg is no great leader. Early last year, he was trailing Freddy Ferrer by somewhere close to 10 points. So what happened? Mike Bloomberg literally bought off the entire city. In my entire career in politics, I’ve never seen anything like this. In addition to spending tens of millions of dollars on TV commercials, Bloomberg handed out millions of dollars in “anonymous donations” to various New York institutions, who by no coincidence, have lined up behind his campaign. There are also a number of pathetic local Democrats that have endorsed Bloomberg because they figure he’ll win and can hopefully land a plum job. Bloomberg brings huge crowds with him wherever he goes. Most of his “volunteers” are being paid insane amounts of money. One story noted that the average paid volunteer for Bloomberg makes more money than first year police officers in the City make. By the end of the campaign, it is projected that Bloomberg will spend somewhere in the neighborhood of $100 million.

The media has totally allowed Bloomberg to get away with buying off an election. Ferrer has just been unable to keep up. You cannot open a local newspaper without seeing a Bloomberg ad, you cannot turn on the TV without seeing a Bloomberg commercial, you cannot turn on the radio without hearing a Bloomberg spot…you get the point. Something needs to change, this is not they way a city election should work (or any election for that matter). There has been no debate over the future of New York City and the policies of the past four years. Bloomberg has drowned out all opposition. I’m hopeful that Ferrer will pull an upset and something creates some dramatic change in the next 5 days, but moving forward, we must make serious changes in this city after this race is over. We don't need another billionaire who is looking for a new hobby buy off the next election.

-- Joel Barkin




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