Spin Cycle

We posted an item yesterday with a video clip of Mayor Bloomberg cutting off, fairly abruptly, Newsday reporter Michael Frazier, who had the temerity to start a question by noting that "you maintain that you kept a dialogue open with Sean Bell ..."

The mayor apparently believed the reporter was insinuating that he was lying about keeping a dialogue open because he used the word "maintain." Apparently it is impermissible for anyone to believe that Bloomberg would lie. Today's Newsday recounts the incident, with press secretary Stu Loeser's (left) defense of his boss:

"The mayor is entitled to not answer questions from people who he believes are insulting him and calling him a liar."

The mayor, of course, is entitled to do anything he wants -- even behave rudely and fly off the handle. The question is whether there is any rational basis for contending that the word "maintain" was an accusatory one -- as opposed to a neutral one, that neither affirmed nor disputed Bloomberg's assertion.

So here's something that would be more useful than flying off the handle, insulting a reporter's professionalism without cause, and then defending the insult:

Why don't Bloomberg/Loeser find a single dictionary that says the word "maintain" insinuates a lie? And if they can't, why don't they apologize? Instead of pretending that a loss of temper was an act of principle?

Here's the video, if you missed it:

Is he or isn't he - finally answered?

Mayor Michael Bloomberg had an informal question and answer with employees at Google's New York headquarters this morning and, inevitably, one of the laptop-wielding Googlers (yes they really call themselves that) asked the mayor if he was "going to run for the presidency of the United States?"

"No, next question," Bloomberg responded, and then went off on a fairly lengthy and familiar riff about why he's speaking out on national issues, yadda yadda yadda.

And later, when a reporter asked a similar question, the mayor offered his stock response, but with a new and newly definitive kicker.

"I"ve said repeatedly I"m not a candidate...and I'll stay that way," the mayor said.

Could it be THAT simple?

Don't count on it. You can be sure Deputy Mayor Kevin Sheekey isn't.

Karla Schuster

Eight years ago this week, Mayor Rudy Giuliani delivered his seventh State of the-City address, marking the midpoint of his second and, by law, final term. It was laced with the usual self-congratulation, aimed in part at an audience beyond the five boroughs.

Yesterday, Mayor Michael Bloomberg delivered his seventh State of the City address, marking the midpoint of his second and final term. It, too, was laced with the customary self-congratulation - and aimed a bit at an audience beyond the five boroughs.

When Giuliani, Bloomberg's possible rival, spoke in City Hall on Jan. 13, 2000, he'd started running for higher office - U.S. Senate - without having announced that he was doing so. And when Bloomberg spoke at the new ice rink in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park yesterday, he, too, had started running for higher office - the presidency - without saying so.

Ballot preparations and strategies and planning have moved far enough along now that for billionaire Bloomberg the only question is whether he pulls the plug in the coming weeks on his unorthodox stealth candidacy - or embraces it in full.

All this presidential fanfare, though, hides the sobering truth of his day job: Having two years left in office means a shrinkage of municipal power and the prospect of a government adrift.

With economic storm clouds looming, Bloomberg called yesterday for sacrifices by unions. But labor leaders in the room knew full well that Bloomberg now lacks leverage. He leaves in 2009 - and the latest round of contracts is already negotiated and signed.

Key parts of his broader agenda appear doomed as well. Nobody applauded, for example, when .....

Dan Janison

So it took about a half-hour for Mayor Michael Bloomberg to utter his first "I am not a candidate" statement here in Oklahoma. The press conference portion of the public began about 12:15 p.m. and so far, while no one has asked the mayor directly if he's running for president, he's clearing the elephant in the auditorium. Just about every questioner so far has asked not just for the panel to weigh in, but for the mayor specifically to answer.

The funniest moment of the event so far is David Abshire, president of the Center for the Presidency in Washington, DC, explaining the opportunity that the next president has to "be a failed president or a great president" and then holding up his new book and plugging it. "It's only $14.95," he said.

Karla Schuster

Plus: Former Georgia Sen. Sam Nunn read this statement issued by the bipartisan group.

At the stroke of 11 a.m., not only did the doors open here at the Catlett Music Center at the University of Oklahoma for the bi-partisan summit, the crashing sounds of an organ filled the place, making it feel like we had all entered some kind of religious service.

Former Minn. Senator Dean Barkley, who ran Jesse Ventura’s successful independent bid for governor in Minnesota, arrived a little after 10, chomping a cigar and salivating at the prospect of a Bloomberg presidential run.

Asked how many of the people filing into the auditorium were here because of Bloomberg, Barkley said: “I don’t know, but that’s why I’m here.”

Karla Schuster

The media was camped outside the Catlett Music Hall at the University of Oklahoma before 8 a.m. for the big bi-partisan hootenanny/Mike Bloomberg presidential speculation-fest later today. Spectators began lining up at 9 a.m. even though the doors don't open to the public until 11 a.m., and they had some pretty interesting ideas about the event, and about the mayor who might want to be president.

“I’ve already decided on my candidate and it’s not Bloomberg,” said Glenda Peters, a retired parochial school principal from Norman. “I think a third-party candidacy is exciting, but I would rather see Bloomberg work with the Democrats I hope will be elected.”

Right behind her, retired high school English teacher Suzette LaCasse McDowell, a John Edwards supporter, said she just isn’t buying the premise of the event, namely that partisan gridlock has crippled Washington.

“What we need are more Democrats so we don’t have any gridlock,” LaCasse McDowell said. Still, she’s not entirely opposed to working with the other side. “I even tried to read an Ann Coulter book once. I couldn’t get through it, but I tried.”

Karla Schuster

Here’s the latest, one of the strangest, and perhaps the most telling exchange yet between Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the press about his possible run for president in 2008.

Besides calling one member of the media crazy, the mayor also seems to acknowledge publicly for the the first time that his aides have been investigating whether Bloomberg could wage a successful bid for the White House as an independent.

Asked during a news conference this morning at City Hall about a story in the New York Post today that Bloomberg aides have been reaching out to past campaign consultants about their availability in 2008, here’s what the mayor said:

“I read the story. I have absolutely no idea where it came from. To the best of my knowledge, I haven’t and I don’t think anybody else that works with me has reached out to anybody new in the last month. It was this breathless story like something’s change. I have no idea where it came from or what it’s about. Do I have advisors on lots of things? Sure. If I was gonna run I’d know exactly who to go to but we haven’t changed anything or done anything.”

Later, New York Observer reporter Azi Paybarah followed up and asked who the mayor meant when he said he’d know exactly who to go to if he was going to run for president.

“Why would I tell you?” the mayor said. “Are you out of your mind? Do you have a real question that’s serious, I’ll answer it.”

Karla Schuster

Mayor Michael Bloomberg is headed to China next week and while his schedule is still being worked out, the mayor says there’s one thing he must do, lest he be “derelict in his duty as mayor of New York City.”

Visit the Great Wall of China?

Distribute Big Apple keychains?

Ride the subway?

Nope.

Talk about freedom.

The mayor, at an afternoon news conference, said “there are concerns that I have — press issues, and human rights issues and transparency of financial statements — that really do matter to New Yorkers and to Americans — and there’s a forum to be able to discuss that...."

Karla Schuster

What is it about being in the middle of a second term as New York City mayor that creates the impulse to speak negatively of someone whose death is causing you political annoyance?

In March 2000, amid his campaign against Hillary Clinton for Senate, an undercover officer shot to death unarmed private security guard Patrick Dorismond during a botched police drug sting. Giuliani managed to fan political and racial flames by releasing Dorismond's sealed juvenile arrest record, in a bid to establish in defense of police that Dorismond was no "altar boy." Actually, he had been -- and went to the same Brooklyn Catholic school as Giuliani. Some time later, after repeatedly defending his actions, Giuliani said something about regretting that he had not seen the "human" side of the situation.

Which brings us to this week, when Mayor Michael Bloomberg said controversially of the late James Zadroga, a police detective who worked for hundreds of hours on the smoldering pile at Ground Zero: "We wanted to have a hero, and there are plenty of heroes... It's just in this case, science says this was not a hero." The medical examiner had found that Zadroga's death was not directly related to WTC dust....

Dan Janison

Reporting by Greg B. Smith in the Daily News this week examined the role of former Bloomberg lobbyist "Skip" Piscitelli and his off-the-bat political and government communications with City Hall officials shortly after he was out the door and back in the high-powered lobbying firm of Wilson, Elser -- now to be probed as a no-no under ethics laws. The original story is here. Followups are here and here. One question raised is whether the city government officially dispatched help for Republican Nassau clerk Maureen O'Connell in her race to beat Democrat Craig Johnson earlier this year.

For some time, Skip's father Peter Piscitelli has been a big-time lobbying figure in New York City and Albany and was a player back in the Koch administration. Ken Shapiro, former top aide in the state Assembly, also is associated with the firm. The younger Piscitelli's communications with Kevin Sheekey, the mayor's master of political promotion, form a rare glimpse of conversations tracked by e-mail.

THE RUDY FRONT: New vows to "Swiftboat" the GOP front-runner come from families of 9/11 survivors. A review of his stances on terrorism shows he's followed rather than led the trends in thinking on the subject. On guns, the former foe of arming civilians has flip-flopped again to support an amendment that his successor Michael Bloomberg stridently opposes. And here, a look at the candidate's foreign fundraising.

THE HILLARY FRONT: She hit five major TV Sunday talk shows and managed to escape without saying much that could be regarded as brand-new. She gets an endorsement from the bricklayers' union and expects one from Sen. Evan Bayh today. Her major donor/fundraiser Norman Hsu's submission to authorities prompts this report on the practice of bundling in general.

THE MAYBE-MIKE FRONT: As expected, Bloomberg fan and ally Frank MacKay of Rocky Point becomes national chair of the Independence Party. On Sunday, the non-candidate paid respects to 9/11 victims from Flight 93 in Shanksville, Pa. Before departing, he made some interesting remarks about how presidential candidates ought to act like adults when it comes to dialogues with foreign leaders.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg says the reason behind the city hiring a top-flight criminal lawyer to respond to subpoenas from prosecutors investigating the deadly fire at the former Deutsche Bank building is simple: "The criminal thing is not my bag."

"The criminal thing is for the (Manhattan) District Attorney (Robert Morgenthau)," the mayor said at a news conference this afternoon outside City Hall. "What the city is trying to do is to make sure that everybody is doing what they're supposed to do is keep this safe."

Sure, the city Corporation Counsel's office has 700 lawyers, but few have enough with expertise in criminal law to handle the investigation, the mayor said.

"But here there are charges that may be brought - maybe they won't be brought," the mayor said. "We have offered criminal help, legal help, to any of our employees who might need it...we will make sure this city is represented by people who know what they're doing."

Karla Schuster

Frank MacKay, leader of the Independence Party, is pushing ahead with designs on a national third party in preparation for the prospect of Mayor Michael Bloomberg running for president, according to Liz at the News.

UPDATE: The fact that Rick Brand made this point in his column on June 24 here slipped the mind of some of us who thought it sounded kinda familiar. D-uh. But that's what political drumrolls are about. The Benjamin hook is that the organization's first organizational meeting is set for Sunday in Westchester.

Unsurprising, but interesting. He's previously praised Kevin Sheekey, Bloomberg's deputy for political promotion, as a political genius, so he must feel he's in good stead. We're sure you'll be hearing more about all this...

Gov. Eliot Spitzer and Rep. Peter King (R-Seaford) are on the same page today as the governor touts a measure that is promoted as protecting those who tip off authorities about terrorists. King has won attention championing the federal version. (UPDATE: description is corrected)

Mayor Bloomberg has another go at what seems like his annual still-gotta-get-on-with-life message.

As you can see here, the prestigious role granted presidential aspirant Rudy Giuliani in the New York ceremony stirs debate from non-believers in his candidacy and image. (UPDATE: Some participants have protested by turning their backs on Giuliani as he took the podium.)

Not to be ignored, of course, Osama bin Laden urges, in the new video, jihad, death, martyrdom and Islamic supremacy -- as described here.

Then there is this op-ed worth seeing from a couple days ago. Former CIA official Michael Scheuer advocates fuller American military commitment to crushing jihadists. That said, consider his remarks in light of today's speeches from Giuliani, Bloomberg and the rest of them:

"The lies of U.S. political leaders do not help us face down our foe. They say Bin Laden, et. al are primarily motivated by their hatred of America's freedoms. Not so."

"The impact of our policy is the Islamists' core motivation and a glue of unity for that ethnically and linguistically diverse crowd."

"The second oft-heard lie is that America is safer than on 9/11. But our governing elite has knowingly failed to accomplish its two most vital post-9/11 tasks: controlling U.S. borders and fully securing the former Soviet Union's nuclear weapons."

The facts behind Mike Bloomberg's succession of Rudy Giuliani fits neither man's desired narrative perfectly. They are outlined here and here.

Preferences?

The Siena poll creatively pits the embattled Gov. Eliot Spitzer against the ever-stealthy Mayor Michael Bloomberg for governor in 2010 -- and the results show a close race.

Of course, the snapshot of a hypothetical contest three years from now will get you on the Triborough Bridge only if you have EZ Pass. In fact, this survey might mean even less in a practical sense than the early presidential samples on still-undeclared candidates.

But if you're into raw speculation, hey, knock yourself out. Results are here.

There are far too many Bloomberg pieces to even begin making links. Here's a summary:

He may have planned this forever, or not. He may or may not run. He may or may not have a chance of winning. He may hurt Rudy, he may hurt Hillary, he may hurt neither, he may hurt both. But boy, do we like exercising our writerly skills and speculations on the subject!!!

Here's one question we haven't seen asked (although it probably is some where). Is this actually good or bad for the things he supposedly wants to do as mayor?

It makes him not a lame duck. But do the Republicans and Democrats in Albany, for example, now get leery about handing a big forward-looking victory on congestion pricing to the guy who wants to kill their respective presidential hopefuls? Or does it give him an extra piece of leverage, a bunch of extra chips to play with? Or does the whole thing continue to play out based on parochial and local self-interest?