I have my differences with Lew Fidler, but sometimes he really hits the nail on the head. And this is one of those times. This is from the Daily News: (hat tip to a fellow blogger)

...Mike Bloomberg is the largest contributor to the Republican Party in our city. He bankrolled the State Senate Republicans and has gifted $50,000 a piece to each County Republican organization."

"More importantly, he shares the economic views of George Herbert Walker Bush. While he has been okay with raising the sales tax and real property taxes on working people, the only tax he went against voraciously was raising the income tax on the wealthiest New Yorkers. Why? Because 'they spend the money in restaurants'.

"The last time I checked my thesaurus that was 'trickle down economics'. And if that is not George HW Bush, then I don't know what is."  read more »

The Thune Amendment, a gun de-control measure attached to another bill, was defeated in the Senate today. Washington Post:

Supporters included all but two Republicans and 20 Democrats, but the vote of 58 to 39 in favor fell two short of the 60 needed to defeat a filibuster.

Despite its defeat, the amendment, sponsored by Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), demonstrated the continuing power of the National Rifle Association and the gun rights issue in Congress. Rather than a setback, those backing the effort consider the vote a sign of strength for the Second Amendment and are planning more gun-related amendments to other legislation throughout the year. Afterward, Thune said he hopes the Senate will "reconsider this important issue" later this year. [...]Big-city mayors, such as New York's Michael R. Bloomberg (I), also voiced opposition, as did gun victims groups, such as families of students killed in the 2007 Virginia Tech shootings. "This bill is an anti-police, pro-gun-trafficker bill," Bloomberg said on the eve of the vote. "It is a bill that will make the police's job much more difficult and much more dangerous, and it will make the streets of our country -- not just big cities, it's small towns as well -- it will make them much more dangerous than they have to be."

Both New York Senators voted against the amendment, and it's worth pointing out that mayor Bloomberg vocally opposed the amendment as well.  read more »

Via the New York Times:

The Senate on Wednesday turned aside the latest attempt by gun advocates to expand the rights of gun owners, narrowly voting down a provision that would have allowed gun owners with valid permits from one state to carry concealed weapons in other states.

The Amendment passed by 58 to 42, just two votes shy of a filibuster. Both New York Senators voted against the amendment, which aligns them with the Bloomberg administration; the mayor has been, frankly a fierce critic of the Amendment, leading a bipartisan group of mayors to in the now-successful defeat of the amendment in the Senate.

To quote the mayor via Ben Smith,

Saying that you will bring down crime by giving more people guns is just absurd, that’s the nicest way to put it. And, you know, only somebody who doesn’t- who plays- foot loose and fancy free with the facts and has an agenda would have the nerve to say something like that.

Mayor Bloomberg wades into Federal waters with an op-ed in today's Daily News. Key grafs:

The principles that President Obama has outlined for national health care reform are driven by a goal that I share: universal access to affordable health care. Last week, I went to Washington to speak with members of Congress about an idea that can help make that goal a reality: a public health insurance option.

Today, most Americans get their health coverage from private insurers. A public health insurance option would create a competitor to private insurers that could potentially drive down costs across the board. I support the concept of a public plan, because if it's done right, it means introducing exactly the kind of competition our system needs.

Snip, snip.

A public option would be particularly beneficial to areas where just a few insurance companies control most of the market. This is especially true of cities. According to the American Medical Association, 94% of metropolitan areas in the United States are dominated by one company or a small group of companies. This kind of anti-competitive concentration protects private insurers from ever having to feel the urgency to provide more for less. When you don't have to find ways to cut costs and produce a better product, you tend not to do it. The public option offers the opportunity to force the system to innovate, evolve and improve.

It's very Bloombergian to make this argument by pointing out cost and efficiency benefits. It's also worth thinking about the potential financial benefits to the City from a Federal solution to the healthcare crisis; a report from January by the Citizens Budget Commission attributes rising City personnel costs in part to the increasing cost of healthcare for the City's 280,000 employees.

Nice going, Mr. Mayor. It's appreciated.  read more »

Sobering news this AM for Democrats: Anthony Weiner, the scrappy Congressman from the Ninth District, is withdrawing from the mayoral race. Weiner lays out his reasoning in a Times Op-Ed.

[A] lot of people I have talked to have asked a different question: “How can you win?”

But for me, these have been side issues. What has animated me most during these past months is how much Washington has changed, and the potential for greater movement still. With a progressive sweep in all branches of the federal government, major economic reform, a new energy bill and an overhaul of health care ahead, this is a moment when ideas matter. I’ve had to evaluate what I could accomplish in Washington if I was in a heated campaign in New York City at the same time.  read more »