Some data about the "new" mayor of NYC
The porous walls between Mayor Bloomberg, Bloomberg L.P. and private deals
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Jerry Mazza
Infowars
November 3, 2009
It’s ironic that I should be noting this tale on November 3rd, Election Day 2009, in New York City, as the richest man in town, “Independent” Michael Bloomberg is running on his private budget, due to surpass $100 million against Democrat Bill Thompson with his six million budget. Bloomberg’s cumulative self-funding for the three terms was upwards of $250 million. The last term violated the two-term limit twice voted on by New Yorkers. New Yorkers were denied a vote on the third term and instead the City Council’s arm was twisting to pass it in a hurry-up vote.
As importantly, during his eight years as Mayor, Boss Bloomberg’s private fortune has gone from $5 billion to over $16 billion dollars, an increase of $11 billion in a time that included the biggest economic decline since the Great Depression. What could be behind this spike in wealth, even as Bloomberg touts his claim that he takes only a dollar a year as Mayor? Methinks a lot more has been acquired through the porous walls between the Mayor’s office, Bloomberg L.P., (88% Bloomberg-owned) “a Google-like search-company” for financial data, and involvements in private deals.
Bloomberg’s first company, Innovative Market Systems, began in 1981, after he was fired from Salomon Brothers as a general partner and head of equity trading. Yet he received a generous $10 million parting package used for his start-up, a financial software services company. He received an immediate investment of $30 million in cash from Merrill Lynch. In 1987, Bloomberg L.P was founded while the Merrill association has continued to this day. Bloomberg L.P. has expanded its reach of electronic terminals from 5,000 to 250,000 around the world, now carrying Bloomberg News as well. The Mayor can tap into company emails and financial data from his City hall desk’s computer.
Curiously, Bloomberg’s deputy mayor, Daniel L. Doctoroff from 2001 to 2007, was made President of Bloomberg, L.P. in 2008. Wiki reports, “ As deputy mayor, he was responsible for Economic Development and Rebuilding, Dan oversaw more than 40 City agencies, offices and corporations, including the Departments of Buildings, Transportation, Environmental Protection, Information Technology and Telecommunications, City Planning, Finance, Small Business Services, Housing Preservation and Development, the Economic Development Corporation, and the Mayor’s offices of Operations and Long-term Planning and Sustainability. Deputy Mayor Doctoroff was responsible for 289 separate projects and initiatives, including the Mayor’s PlaNYC agenda, which made New York a global leader in sustainability. He has also served as the Administration’s point person on the rebuilding of Lower Manhattan after the devastation of 9/11.”
It’s interesting to note that “Before joining the Bloomberg administration, Doctoroff was Managing Partner of Oak Hill Capital Partners, a private equity investment firm. During his fourteen-year association with Oak Hill, Doctoroff was actively involved in the acquisition and management of many companies, including those in the media, financial services and information services sectors. While at Oak Hill, during 1994, Doctoroff founded NYC2012, the not-for-profit corporation created to organize New York City’s bid for the 2012 Olympics. He was recruited into the Bloomberg administration in late 2001.” The media savvy is key to Bloomberg’s operation.
“Doctoroff previously worked as an investment banker at the former Lehman Brothers. Mr. Doctoroff received a B.A. degree from Harvard College in 1980. He received a J.D. degree from the University of Chicago Law School in 1984. Before attending law school, Doctoroff was a political pollster.”
So, the Mayor had kind of a mirror image of himself as deputy, as they sat several feet away from each other in Bloomberg’s “bull-pen,” an open office modeled after a trader’s office. Doctoroff also took a dollar year for the job. In fact, Bloomberg mentions it at the end of his glowing recommendation for his deputy…
"As the chief architect of our five-borough economic development plan, Dan Doctoroff has done more to change the face of this City than anyone since Robert Moses. As a result of Dan’s efforts, we’ve allowed for the creation of 130 million square feet of commercial and residential space, three new sports arenas, a new subway line, 2,400 acres of parks, the regeneration of more than 60 miles of waterfront, all while displacing only 400 residents. The initiatives Dan has spearheaded and the strong leadership he provided daily to the City’s business and financial communities were essential to the strong and unexpectedly fast economic recovery we made after the destruction of 9/11.
“His efforts were instrumental in helping us create more than a hundred thousand jobs and a climate where businesses wanted to locate and people wanted to work. His impact will be felt for decades to come….For the past six years I have sat eight feet away from Dan and have seen the countless daily demonstrations of his extraordinary vision, creativity, energy and his ability to attract and motivate talented staff, and achieve goals that no one thought possible. I have asked Dan to continue to oversee some of the City’s most critical projects during a transition period in 2008, and I’m delighted that Dan will bring his exceptional leadership qualities to Bloomberg L.P.. At $1 per year, for six years, the $6 we have paid Dan makes his service to New York perhaps on of the greatest bargains for the City since the purchase of Manhattan for $24."
One wonders if Dan as Mike have more than made up for their investments.
For answers, I turn now to the veteran New York City government watcher, Journalist Wayne Barrett, writing on September 1, 2009 in the Village Voice, Bloomberg Keeps His Billions Separate From His Mayoral Obligations? Yeah, Right! This is a must read. Space allows me to only highlight some of the more egregious Bloomberg deals Barrett’s research team revealed. He writes…
“…After nearly two full terms, however, the walls between the mayor’s money and his public office that once looked so strict have appeared more and more porous. In some cases, like with Time Warner, that may not have been Bloomberg’s doing. And in others, it may not have even been what was on his mind. But as he nears a third term, there’s little doubt that Bloomberg’s business interests have become increasingly intertwined with his government, a conflicted marriage unprecedented in the life of the city and unchecked by an independent overseer.
“One of the rules Bloomberg agreed to was that he would keep his hands off "all matters involving cable television. While Bloomberg has backed wholesale deregulation and higher rates for cable, saying that carriers ‘don’t make a lot of money,’ there is, in fact, no evidence that Bloomberg has ever personally intervened in the decisions about the three national companies that have contracts with the city. But it’s clear that his network did benefit, mightily, from Time Warner’s channel change.
“It’s also true that television is increasingly important to Bloomberg LP’s long-term business plan. Until Bloomberg’s most trusted aide, Deputy Mayor Dan Doctoroff, announced his departure from city employment, he had overseen the city’s cable franchises (his designated successor, Ron Lieber, does that now). Doctoroff left the city to become president of Bloomberg LP, where he has made the revamping of the television operation a top priority…
“Two months after Doctoroff was installed as Bloomberg LP’s president in January 2008, the Time Warner channel switch happened.
“There’s no way to tell if Bloomberg TV’s move from channel 104 to channel 30 on New York’s dial has improved the network’s ratings, since Nielsen doesn’t release them. But cable experts say that the move was certainly designed to enhance the network’s advertising potential in Manhattan, where the people who make ad-buying decisions are much more likely to notice the station now than when it was in triple digits. Meanwhile, in the rest of the country, Bloomberg TV remains in the cable hinterlands: It’s still at 224 in Los Angeles, 252 in San Diego, 246 in Boston, and, like it once was in New York, 104 in New Jersey. (Cablevision, which has the city contract in the Bronx and parts of Brooklyn, has Bloomberg TV at 105.)”
To make it perfectly clear, Channel 30 was originally the YES Channel, which also was the broadcaster of Yankees’ home games. Bumping YES to channel 52 (far from ESPN and other sports carriers), and inserting Bloomberg TV into channel 30, the Yankees former spot, is the real issue here. As Barrett points out, Bloomberg had promised to keep his hands off of cable TV. Somehow, the dreary Bloomberg TV filled with talking heads spouting financial news and data seems strange in this new placement. But so it goes.
Barrett goes on to say that “Beyond Time Warner and Bloomberg TV, there’s one other party affected by the switch: the YES Network, which is partially owned by the Yankees. The Yankees, of course, may owe more to Bloomberg and Doctoroff than any other company in New York. Not only did the city dump public money into the new stadium, but the administration has been accused of illegally adjusting land appraisals to justify additional public bonds for it.
“Did the Yankees or YES do Bloomberg a favor with the channel switch?
full article;
http://www.infowars.com/the-porous-walls-between-mayor-bloomberg-bloomberg-l-p-and-private-deals/
