Bloomberg was a liberal Democrat until in 2001 he scratched his itch by becoming a Republican, thereby avoiding an inconvenient Democratic primary. Bloomberg won the Republican nomination and the election, all for $72.5 million. Re-elected in 2005, but not summoned to the presidency, he convinced the City Council -- not a Herculean task -- to alter the law, enacted and reaffirmed in two referendums, limiting mayors and council members to two terms. Bloomberg thereby became an advertisement for term limits as prophylactic measures against arrogance.
Speaking of which, Bloomberg then decreed that the city's parlous financial condition -- his administration has hired more than 40,000 new city workers since 2004; spending is up about 50 percent during his tenure -- required him to cancel the $400 rebate checks that usually are mailed in October to 600,000 homeowners, many of them of modest means, some of whom were New Yorkers before Bloomberg arrived from Boston and before he airily announced that living in New York is a luxury. Bloomberg has no power to unilaterally cancel the rebate without the complicity of the City Council, which is supine but not suicidal. Nevertheless, the checks have not been mailed, but as this is written, several council members are asking a court to order the mailing.
Plunging Gotham into consternation about what to do with kitty litter and dirty diapers, Bloomberg has decreed a 6-cent "fee" on plastic shopping bags in order to save the planet from, well, plastic. Then his staff acknowledged that the fee would be a tax, requiring Albany's approval. Perhaps Bloomberg should just ban the bags, as San Francisco -- of course -- has done.
Catsimatidis, ample in girth and sartorially rumpled, works out of his empire's unimperial headquarters above a Lexus dealership on 11th Avenue. After becoming Bill Clinton's buddy, Catsimatidis became a Republican in October 2007 -- do you see a pattern? -- but might run only if Bloomberg's politics of hauteur and talk of increased property taxes, tolls on East River bridges, and other annoyances so curdles the public's mood that the mayor decides against running.
Catsimatidis has some interesting ideas for middle-class developments built around the city's distinctive infrastructure, its subway system, and if the less-harmful billionaire wins, Catsimatidis will have acquired Gracie Mansion. This is "post-partisan" politics. Do you like it?