Could The Yankees Be Bloomberg's Undoing?

There are a lot of things that get me going about Mayor Bloomberg. Being out of touch with people who make less than a billion dollars a year, his undemocratic means of extending term limits, how he's gone about raising property taxes and a whole host of other things. I would like nothing better than to see him lose his re-election bid this year. Despite all those grievances, it might just be the storied New York Yankees that bring him down in the end.

From The Gothamist:

It appears that various members of local and state government have lost their cool with the Yankees and their struggles to finance their soon to open new stadium without the additional financial assistance. City Comptroller William Thompson came out swinging with the harshest rhetoric yesterday when discussing the ongoing state of the project stating, "Costs don't go up that dramatically in that period of time. Either someone did that intentionally or it is the worst job of management that I have ever seen." [...]

The Times questions whether the city's dealings with the Yankees could become an Achilles heel for the mayor's reelection campaign. They compare the situation to the mayor's attempts push for a West Side stadium before the '05 campaign, but with higher stakes given the current economic state. One Quinnipiac pollster speculates that close ties with the Yankees might do more harm than good just due to the fact that "people are being told we’ve got to economize, we’ve got to tighten our belts, and the Yankees are blowing money by the carload for players.”

Earlier this week, another Bloomberg opponent in the mayoral race Anthony Weiner took a jab at the Yankees fundraising efforts saying, “Maybe CC Sabathia can buy the big-screen TVs.” Comments like that have made it easier for Bloomberg aides to brush off the criticisms as nothing more than "political theater." Yankees President Randy Levine added, “Surprise, surprise — Billy Thompson is running for mayor. Billy voted for this deal in the beginning, I continually briefed him, and only after the term-limits law does he now decide to criticize the deal. What a coincidence.”

Bloomberg and his people may think that this is all merely theater and they are entitled to that. However, this botched public funding of a deal that only benefits the players involved at the expense of the taxpayers is indicative of the Mayor's entire Administration. He's been touted as this economic guru because of his wealth, but for the last eight years middle class New Yorkers have fared worse while the rich have done very well thanks to zoning policies, eminent domain issues, property tax rates and those that have a stake in Citi Field and the new Yankee Stadium.

His supporters in and out of the Council during the battle for term limits extensions were eager to say what a great financial manager he has been, but really, voters should be asking who's fiscal solvency does he have at heart?