Earliest Editorial Board Endorsement Ever?

The Queens Courier has endorsed Bloomberg for mayor. I wasn’t cranky today . . . until now:

The Queens Courier is proud to endorse Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg in his quest for a third term because he cares about our city, its people, its cultural institutions and our future.

Over the years, we have watched as Bloomberg rode the good times, but always with an eye to the next budget shortfall. His business acumen is invaluable to the city.

He is a builder and an innovator. The 3-1-1 system is a tremendous success. His NYC2030 Plan, which includes planting one million new trees, is turning our city green again.

He knew from day one that education was the key to the city’s future. Under Bloomberg’s Mayoral Control plan — and with the aid of Schools Chancellor Joel I. Klein — the scores in math and reading have been going up steadily and the graduation rates are increasing.

Michael Bloomberg is his own man; he takes no money from lobbyists or special interest groups. No one has control or influence over his decisions — he makes them for the good of the people of Queens and the other boroughs.

A tough leader in a tough town, he has fought crime with a modern, well-equipped police force using leading-edge technology. Year after year, crime has decreased in the city, including a 17 percent drop just this past year.

Bloomberg knows that jobs and their creation are vital to keeping businesses in New York. He observes how resilient the private sector can be. Restaurants watched their patrons downgrade from steaks and a bottle of wine to burgers and beer and rebound to meatloaf and a glass of wine during the past few months.

It takes a leader, not a follower, to navigate the kind of economy that we will all have to live through for the next several years. Bloomberg is a true visionary who looks for the traps and pitfalls before we fall victim to them. He is already worrying about the 2011 budget as he keeps his eye on what Albany is doing too.

There is no other candidate currently running or contemplating a run for mayor that is as qualified and worthy of your votes in the coming Primaries and November elections. To cast your vote against Bloomberg and for someone else is simply throwing your vote, and maybe your future, away.