Money Talks

There are two items in today's Politicker that should generate, at least among the cognoscenti, the smell of money; and all of this, of course, goes right back to the ultimate monetary source: Mike Bloomberg's wallet. The first item involves the re-election of Councilman James Sanders: "Michael Bloomberg held a fund-raiser last night for Democratic City Councilman James Sanders of Queens, according to campaign sources. The event, I was told, took place at Bloomberg's townhouse. Sanders is a natural choice for Bloomberg to back. The councilman voted to support the term-limits extension and was the only Council member to abstain on an amendment that would have required the measure to go through a public referendum. The amendment failed to get a majority."

Now in England another word for money is "quid." So it is understandable that in the case of James Sanders, the quid in this case is part of a quid pro quo-with the cash nexus integral to the development of reciprocal obligations. How is this any less unseemly than if the fundraiser was hosted by a local business interest? Once again, Bloomberg bucks determines what the public interest is.

The same holds true for this next item: "Brooklyn Hispanic Chamber President for Bloomberg." What's remarkable here, is that there is no one less supportive of small Hispanic retailers than Mike Bloomberg-the man who once famously described the loss of $250 million to the bodega tax as, "a minor economic issue." And what exactly has Bloomberg done to address the crisis of the bodegueros?

So Rick Miranda is supporting the mayor, because? Maybe it's the commercial real estate tax that he levied in 2002? Or, perhaps, the way in which his policies have spurred an exodus of Hispanic owned supermarkets from the city? It couldn't have anything to do with Bloomy bucks, now could it?