New York Post [Page Six] - September 26, 2005
WHY SOME DEMS DUCK FREDDY
WHEN David Dinkins came forward on Friday with a painfully weak endorsement of Freddy Ferrer (he refused to state that Ferrer would be a better mayor than Michael Bloomberg), the ex-mayor joined a long list of Democrats extensively backing Ferrer but secretly rooting for the incumbent.
"Half the big names who have been pressured into endorsing Ferrer will, when the curtain closes in the voting booth, pull the lever for Michael Bloomberg," a longtime political observer told PAGE SIX.
Among the Democrats said to be hoping for the mayor's re-election: * Eliot Spitzer. The attorney general came out early for the former Bronx borough president but has rarely been seen campaigning with him. "Ferrer has promised to start raising taxes as soon as he takes office. This would be a nightmare for Spitzer, who is running for governor in 2006 as a fiscal conservative," said the insider.
* Bill Thompson. The two-term city comptroller's plans to run for mayor in 2009 would be thwarted by a Ferrer victory this year. "No matter how abysmal his first-term performance would be, as the incumbent, Ferrer would automatically get the nomination in 2009," the insider continued.
* Rev. Al Sharpton. It is generally agreed that the clergyman's last-minute anointing of Ferrer was ineffective, as only 7 percent of the city's registered Democrats voted for him on Sept. 13. "Sharpton hopes to be a key player in putting a black Democrat, Bill Thompson, in City Hall in 2009. Ferrer's handlers promised not to support a Latino against Thompson if Ferrer loses in November, so Al and Bill are smiling for the cameras and keeping their fingers crossed behind their backs," laughed our observer.
* Adolfo Carrión Jr. The current Bronx borough president will be term limited in 2009 and hopes to run for mayor himself that year. "The extremely competent Carrion would have been a stronger candidate this year than Ferrer, but he was pre-empted for the Puerto Rican slot in the primary. He's seething," said one Bronx resident.
Even the state's two Democratic U.S. senators have reason to prefer the mayor's re-election. Chuck Schumer's wife, Iris Weinshall, is Bloomberg's commissioner of transportation. Hillary Clinton is up for re-election next year and would probably prefer to be attacking Bloomberg than defending a novice Democratic mayor.
Is this hypocrisy? "That's the nature of politicians. They say one thing and mean another," said our cynical observer.