Bridge and Tunnel Club Blog Home
Bridge and Tunnel Club Blog

The Only People Who Can Stop Him Now Are The Preservationists

What’s the most ridiculous aspect of the Bloomberg for President hype? Is it New York City’s nationwide agenda? Is it the Genesis-like porterhouse-fueled dare myth? No, it’s the speculation that Hizzoner would reconfigure the Oval Office to accommodate his signature “bullpen” layout:

The Oval Office is among the most recognizable symbols of the American presidency, but if Mayor Bloomberg ends up in the White House, the real business of the country could get done down the hall.

If history is an indication, Mr. Bloomberg will want to reconfigure some area of the White House to make room for an open, newsroom-style office if he’s elected president. Since his days as the founder and CEO of the information technology company Bloomberg L.P., the mayor has opted to forgo a private corner office to work in a “bullpen” surrounded by his top lieutenants and aides. Starting today, Mr. Bloomberg’s bullpen is moving to the city’s emergency command center in Brooklyn for two weeks while the City Hall workspace gets an electrical upgrade and a fresh coat of paint.

The rearranging of the White House furniture hinges, of course, on a lot of ifs — with the top two being if Mr. Bloomberg decides to run and if he wins. But those who have followed his career or worked in the White House say if Mr. Bloomberg does become the next commander-in-chief he will be able to find a space for his beloved bullpen at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.

“He could go to the Old Executive Office [Building], which is across the alley. There’s a space on the third floor there where he could create a bullpen about the size that he has at City Hall,” a Republican strategist and former assistant to President Reagan, Edward Rollins, said.

Mr. Rollins, who worked in the White House between 1981 and 1986 with some time off for Mr. Reagan’s re-election campaign, said creating a bullpen in the West Wing would be next to impossible because it would require “knocking down the Oval Office, the Cabinet Room, and the Roosevelt Room.”

Posted: July 9th, 2007 | Filed under: Please, Make It Stop, Political

Kevin Sheekey Leaks One Or Two Little Tidbits And Then They All Go Cheney On You

See, this is what you get when you float a possible run for higher office:

Before he was elected mayor in 2001, Michael R. Bloomberg had surgery to have two stents implanted in a coronary artery because of blockage in his heart, a person with knowledge of Mr. Bloomberg’s health said last night.

Mayor Bloomberg has not had heart disease since the stents were put in, according to this person, who spoke on condition of anonymity because Mr. Bloomberg had not authorized release of the information. The mayor is in excellent health today, this person said.

Newsweek magazine first reported the implants this week. The person with knowledge of the mayor’s health said the procedure took place in 2000 after Mr. Bloomberg complained of discomfort and tiredness. NY1 News also reported last night that Mr. Bloomberg was advised by a doctor to undergo the procedure and that he recovered quickly.

A spokesman for the mayor, Stu Loeser, declined to comment on the stents or on Mr. Bloomberg’s health last night.

The health of the mayor, 65, as well as other facets of his personal and professional life, have come under new scrutiny in the last week since he spurred intense speculation about his possible presidential ambitions by changing his party registration from Republican to independent.

Posted: June 28th, 2007 | Filed under: Political, Well, What Did You Expect?

That’s Darn Near Ross Perot Numbers There

Kevin Sheekey should take heart in the numbers and the unqualified support in the highest reaches of the 10021 zip code for Hizzoner’s bid for higher office:

While nobody outright endorsed Mr. Bloomberg, the enthusiasm from the city’s heavy hitters offers an indication of just how seriously the mayor would be taken if he ran. Mr. Bloomberg is still insisting he is not running, but his decision to drop his Republican Party affiliation last week is being interpreted as a precursor to an independent bid.

Yesterday, a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll found Mr. Bloomberg would garner 17% of the vote in a matchup against Senator Clinton, who would get 41%, and Mayor Giuliani, who would get 38%.

The president emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations, Leslie Gelb, a former New York Times correspondent, praised Mr. Bloomberg, saying the mayor has shown that he “masters issues” and adding that “he is at least as qualified as the hordes in the ring now.”

“None of them would do a better job,” Mr. Gelb told The New York Sun. “In terms of qualifications for the job, they don’t overmatch him at all.”

And if that’s not a resounding plug for the man — “I don’t see anyone better” — there’s the tried and true “tolerant parent” line, the likes of which you may remember from winter break of your sophomore year:

[Senior chairman and co-founder of the Blackstone Group, Pete] Peterson, the chairman of the board at the Council on Foreign Relations and the president of Concord Coalition, a bipartisan group that promotes fiscal responsibility, said, “I think Mike Bloomberg would do a great job at virtually anything he decided to do, including being president of the United States.”

Posted: June 26th, 2007 | Filed under: Political

I Don’t Think This Is What Kevin Sheekey Had In Mind When He Said That He Wanted To Burnish Bloomberg’s Image As The Law & Order Candidate

Michael Bloomberg’s not-yet-ready-for-prime-time campaign sews up the all-important Jack McCoy endorsement:

“Law & Order” star Sam Waterston praised a possible White House run by Mayor Bloomberg — but had little to say about co-star Fred Thompson’s presidential aspirations.

Bloomberg is “a very competent, very able, very successful mayor,” said Waterston, said plays ADA Jack McCoy.

Waterston is lobbying for the formation of a bipartisan ticket for the 2008 presidential race. By bolting the GOP last week, Bloomberg stirred speculation that he’s angling to hook up with a Democrat or Republican in an independent White House bid.

“Certainly, Bloomberg is a very likely one,” Waterston said of a “Unity ’08” ticket on CBS’s “Face the Nation” yesterday.

Asked about Thompson, Waterston said he had no inside information but thinks the actor will jump in the race soon. A Tennessee TV station reported yesterday that Thompson’s campaign will announce the opening of a Nashville headquarters this week.

And if you were wondering just how irrelevant “Face the Nation” has become, look no further than Ed Koch:

Also appearing on CBS with Waterston yesterday was former Mayor Ed Koch, who said he supports Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and believes she will capture the White House.

But he would consider switching his allegiance to Bloomberg, he said.

“I will choose at the time of choice that person who will be best for the country, irrespective of party,” Koch said.

Posted: June 25th, 2007 | Filed under: Please, Make It Stop, Political

“Dude, You Should Totally Run For President!”

I don’t know which is worse — someone who actually wants to run for President* or someone who runs for President after one of his aides eggs him on about it during a testosterone-elevating, alcohol-fueled steak dinner**:

The announcement by Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg of New York that he was leaving the Republican Party to become an independent was made after nearly two years in which his aides had laid the groundwork for a potential independent run for president.

They collected technical data on the requirements to put Mr. Bloomberg on the ballot in 50 states either as a third party or an independent candidate. Mr. Bloomberg went to Washington for a round of meetings with opinion leaders and traveled the country giving political speeches, including two this week in California.

And Mr. Bloomberg told associates that he was closely studying the 1992 presidential campaign of H. Ross Perot, the wealthy Texan and friend who drew 19 percent of the vote as an independent, to figure out how much a race in 2008 would cost.

For all that, Mr. Bloomberg told a packed news conference on Wednesday that he did not plan to run for president and intended to serve out his second term as mayor.

“My intention is to be mayor for the next 925 days and 10 or 11 hours,” he said. “I’ve got the greatest job in the world, and I’m going to keep doing it.”

Still, Mr. Bloomberg proceeded to use a news conference to give a critique on national politics. It was the fitting end of a week when he appeared on the cover of Time magazine and gave two speeches in California offering a pointed indictment of partisan politics in Washington, contrasting it with how he runs New York City.

Indeed, his aides said that he had not intended for the news of his registration switch, which he initiated last Wednesday by signing a document with the New York City Board of Elections, to become public until he had returned from California, but he was hardly upset at the swell of attention it drew him.

The aides said there was division in his camp about whether he should run for president. Kevin Sheekey, who was the architect behind Mr. Bloomberg’s unlikely mayoral bid in 2001, urged Mr. Bloomberg to run for president over steaks and drinks at a dinner at Dylan Prime to celebrate his re-election in 2005. Others argued that it was an impossible task and a waste of Mr. Bloomberg’s reputation and resources.

Mr. Bloomberg was described as conflicted about a national run, intrigued by the possibility of winning the presidency but telling friends that he would not run unless he was certain that he could win.

*Because, honestly, do you ever trust someone who wants to be President? It’s a weird thing to do.

**On the other hand, faux humility is useful — the idea that you are “drafted” to run (think a shorter, more nasal Wesley Clark) is probably appealing to people. But back on the first hand, shouldn’t you want to run for President because, you know, you have some commitment to public service or some kind of special purpose in the world? Which is to say, the best apocryphal Presidential-Genesis story might not be that one night your buddies idly suggested, somewhere between the iceberg wedge and the porterhouse, that you should totally go for it. (That said, it is slightly less smarmy than John Edwards’ Wade-hugging “never told this to anyone before” epiphany.)

Posted: June 21st, 2007 | Filed under: Please, Make It Stop, Political
After Getting Virtually Flashed, Virtually Held Up And Virtually Squeegeed, Any Reservations I Might Have Had About Bernard Tschumi’s Tremendous Contribution To The Lower East Side Skyline Just Slipped Away »
« 50 Million Noise Complaints Extrapolated For A Population Of Over 300 Million Would Be Somewhere Near 1.9 Billion Noise Complaints
« Older Entries
Newer Entries »

Recent Posts

  • “Friends And Allies Literally Roll Their Eyes When They Hear The New York City Mayor Is Trying To Go National Again”
  • You Don’t Achieve All Those Things Without Managing The Hell Out Of The Situation
  • “Less Than Six Months After Bill De Blasio Became Mayor Of New York City, A Campaign Donor Buttonholed Him At An Event In Manhattan”
  • Nothing Hamburger
  • On Cheap Symbolism

Categories

Bookmarks

  • 1010 WINS
  • 7online.com (WABC 7)
  • AM New York
  • Aramica
  • Bronx Times Reporter
  • Brooklyn Eagle
  • Brooklyn View
  • Canarsie Courier
  • Catholic New York
  • Chelsea Now
  • City Hall News
  • City Limits
  • Columbia Spectator
  • Courier-Life Publications
  • CW11 New York (WPIX 11)
  • Downtown Express
  • Gay City News
  • Gotham Gazette
  • Haitian Times
  • Highbridge Horizon
  • Inner City Press
  • Metro New York
  • Mount Hope Monitor
  • My 9 (WWOR 9)
  • MyFox New York (WNYW 5)
  • New York Amsterdam News
  • New York Beacon
  • New York Carib News
  • New York Daily News
  • New York Magazine
  • New York Observer
  • New York Post
  • New York Press
  • New York Sun
  • New York Times City Room
  • New Yorker
  • Newsday
  • Norwood News
  • NY1
  • NY1 In The Papers
  • Our Time Press
  • Pat’s Papers
  • Queens Chronicle
  • Queens Courier
  • Queens Gazette
  • Queens Ledger
  • Queens Tribune
  • Riverdale Press
  • SoHo Journal
  • Southeast Queens Press
  • Staten Island Advance
  • The Blue and White (Columbia)
  • The Brooklyn Paper
  • The Columbia Journalist
  • The Commentator (Yeshiva University)
  • The Excelsior (Brooklyn College)
  • The Graduate Voice (Baruch College)
  • The Greenwich Village Gazette
  • The Hunter Word
  • The Jewish Daily Forward
  • The Jewish Week
  • The Knight News (Queens College)
  • The New York Blade
  • The New York Times
  • The Pace Press
  • The Ticker (Baruch College)
  • The Torch (St. John’s University)
  • The Tribeca Trib
  • The Villager
  • The Wave of Long Island
  • Thirteen/WNET
  • ThriveNYC
  • Time Out New York
  • Times Ledger
  • Times Newsweekly of Queens and Brooklyn
  • Village Voice
  • Washington Square News
  • WCBS880
  • WCBSTV.com (WCBS 2)
  • WNBC 4
  • WNYC
  • Yeshiva University Observer

Archives

RSS Feed

  • Bridge and Tunnel Club Blog RSS Feed

@batclub

Tweets by @batclub

Contact

  • Back To Bridge and Tunnel Club Home
    info -at- bridgeandtunnelclub.com

BATC Main Page

  • Bridge and Tunnel Club

2025 | Bridge and Tunnel Club Blog