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I see an upset — Anthony Weiner will beat Ferrer but come up short of the 40% necessary to avoid the run-off with him.

My date for the evening and I shall be going to a party tonight sponsored by the Bloomberg c ampaign tonight. I’ll tell y’all about it later.

Claudio

This was what Democratic Mayor Mike Bloomberg had to say about petty petition challenges back in the day (2004):

It’s become a whole cottage industry of you don’t have to beat the other guy based on positions or your ability to serve; all you’ve got to do is beat him because you got a better lawyer who can get him thrown off the ballot. I think it’s time to end this ‘gotcha’ kind of technique where lawyers comb petitions to find some technical violation. [Emphasis mine.]

Right. Now fast-forward to 2005. Same Mayor Mike, but now with a real Republican potentially challenging him in a primary:

The Bloomberg campaign plans today to try to prevent a Republican primary for mayor by challenging the nominating petitions of Thomas V. Ognibene, the former city councilman who is seeking to run on the Republican line.

Bloomberg campaign aides said they had found problems with Mr. Ognibene’s petitions, including signatures of people ineligible to vote or not enrolled as Republicans, signatures that did not match those on voter registration cards, and incomplete forms. The flaws, they said, will most likely drop the number from the 8,116 signatures submitted to well below the 7,500 needed to qualify for the ballot.

By trying to halt a primary challenge by Mr. Ognibene, a conservative, the Bloomberg campaign is seeking to avoid not only a distracting primary battle, but also a confrontation with elements of the Republican Party who think Mr. Bloomberg is too liberal.

Hmmmm. Dare I say “flip-flop”? Ognibene’s response is priceless:

It seems that the only thing that Bloomberg isn’t willing to spend money on is a fair fight. Why participate in the democratic process when you can simply write a check, and buy it?

Indeed. Oh, and couple that with the fact that Democratic Mike is getting endorsements from NARAL and potentially not supporting President Bush’s Supreme Court nominee, Judge John G. Roberts (even Hilary is supporting the man for goodness’ sake!):

Mayor Mike will be endorsed by the New York chapter of the National Abortion Rights Action League at a 12:30 press conference at Brooklyn’s Kings County hospital, sources say.

Key question: Will Bloomberg now take a harder stance against Bush administration Supreme Court nominee John Roberts in line with NARAL’s opposition to his nomination? (Yesterday, the mayor punted, saying he’d have to examine Roberts’ record more carefully).

Could I dislike this guy any more than I already do? Is it even possible? We’ll see in the days and weeks to come…but something tells me even now, that it is more than possible, it’s likely.

Claudio

PS - My brother Thomas will return to light-blogging here at The (vast) Right Wing Conspiracy soon. He has been interning at State Senator and Queens County Republican Chairman Serph Maltese’s office (the only county party head to endorse Ognibene) and has been able to meet with the Senator on an almost daily basis. We’ll ask him to share his thoughts and predictions regarding future clashes between Serph and Mike and the future of the Queens GOP.

Alright, good news coming from the Ognibene camp. It seems Tom has 7,800 petition signatures, 300 more than the 7,500 needed to secure a place on the ballot in the mayoral primary. Some are arguing that the signatures may not be valid as 1,000 or so of them were inherited from the now-defunct campaign of Steve Shaw (see Slantpoint comments for discussion).

I think Bloomberg’s people may try to challenge, but the petition will stand. Ognibene on the ballot means finally a chance to send a message to Bloomberg and the state GOP.

Claudio

After this post from Scott at Slantpoint:

April 05, 2005
Now Bloomberg Likes Spitzer?
As if the Hillary almost-endorsement by Bloomberg last week wasn’t enough, he is now indicating he would consider Spitzer for Governor. Now, to be fair, Bloomberg is playing footsie and there are no Republicans yet declared, but still, my intention is to say he does not take these opportunities to promote Republicans - even vaguely.

Except our state party chair…

“I don’t know why you think I got in trouble with the Republican state chairman,” the mayor told reporters. “Last time I checked, he was sitting with me at the Yankees game last night and he seemed to be having a very good time.”

…and this email from Tom Ognibene…

From Ognibene For NY to me
More options 11:08 am (11 minutes ago)
Dear Claudio, We saw the article in Newsday today. Congratulations on being named a Truman Scholar. We are proud to have you on the Ognibene for NY team. Tom and Margaret Ognibene

I am dying for the chance to get out there and pound the pavement with Ognibene. Too bad he isn’t a) raising money, b) getting attention, c) holding events, d) allowing volunteers to do anything, e) trying to win.

Eh. Whatever. I’ll try to get up with him in November, it seems he’ll run for Mayor on the Conservative and Independence Party tickets.

Claudio