Chances are if you live in New York you have received anywhere from one to a dozen pieces of campaign literature in the mail from Mayor Mike Bloomberg. Nearly all of them make the claim that if we re-elect him to a (unethically manufactured) third term then he will miraculously save or create 400,000 jobs. Even in NYC, that is a big eye-catching number. Yet so far the only jobs that have come from that number are the printers, pollsters and campaign staff of Michael Bloomberg that have been espousing the number.
I am tired of the Mayor getting away with making claims of being our city's savior while his Executive budget says the exact opposite. My fellow Democracy for New York City organizer Josh Skaller, who happens to be running for Bill de Blasio's current City Council seat is sick of Bloomberg's propaganda too:
“The truth is clear. Bloomberg’s so-called plan is glossy smoke and very expensive mirrors,” Skaller said. “He is re-selling the ideas we have all supported in the past and offering few new ones. When I join the City Council, the City will take clear and transparent actions to fix our economy by generating new ideas, creating good jobs, and becoming the center of America’s new green economy.[...]“The Mayor’s Executive Budget cannot stretch the truth, or investors who have taken out municipal bonds can sue the City for fraud. But Bloomberg’s glossy campaign mail is bound by no such constraints - and the numbers they use represent the fuzziest math.
“According to the Executive Budget issued May 1, 2009, New York City is projected to lose 328,000 jobs between August 2008 and the third quarter of 2010. Employment will be flat until 2012. The peak period for these projected job losses? The second quarter of 2009 - also known as now. So where is the leadership that Mayor Bloomberg would like us to believe in? What is the rationale for a third term in office?
The truth is there is no rationale. Bloomberg is spending millions to drill a false sense of security in his Administration when there is no reason to feel safe (unless you are a developer or just plain rich). Whenever someone tries to confront the Mayor on the disconnect between his message and the facts, he blows a fuse.
As City Hall News reports, there are no details and no specifics for Bloomberg's claim. As I'm sure his cadre of consultants have told him, just keep drilling meaningless and empty numbers into the heads of voters and he'll coast to victory. Unfortunately for those highly paid politicos, the more we hear from people like Josh Skaller, the less people are going to believe the distortions and half-truths that come out of the Bloomberg campaign.
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