Opinion: Aha, Bloomberg makes a move
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New York City’s Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a lifelong Democrat who switched to the Republican Party in 2001 to seek the mayoralty, completed a triple play today. He switched again, this time to list himself as an independent.
The 65-year-old billionaire businessman’s decision adds to the speculation he may mount an independent presidential candidacy for the 2008 election. As noted by Top of the Ticket last evening, he’s been making all kinds of moves that suggest such preparations.
Bloomberg, who is completing a two-day stay in California by speaking this evening in Century City, issued a statement in New York saying he’d filed papers to register as unaffiliated with any party which brings his affiliation ‘into alignment with how I have led and will continue to lead our city.
‘A nonpartisan approach has worked wonders in New York,’ he added. ‘We have achieved real progress by overcoming the partisanship that too often puts narrow interests above the common good.’
Later, he added, ‘real results are more important than partisan battles and that good ideas should take precedence over rigid adherence to any particular political ideology.’
He also said, ‘My plans for the future haven’t changed.’ But he did not elaborate on what those plans are.
Appearing at the same USC conference today as Bloomberg, Gov. Schwarzenegger echoed the New Yorker’s call for a new political approach, which the Californian leader called ‘post-partisan.’
‘It is nearly impossible,’ Schwarzenegger said, ‘to make progress on these issues when the major parties dig in. How about being realistic and solving the problem?’ The Times’ Michael Finnegan and Evan Halper have the full story here.
--Andrew Malcolm