Mayor Bloomberg said today that he supported the effort of Jeff Klein, Diane Savino and others to break away from the Democratic Party in the state Senate and form their own caucus.
“Jeff Klein I’ve known for a long time, he’s basically a non-partisan guy. I think he was embarrassed by what happened in our legislature, as were all New Yorkers, Republicans and Democrats,” Bloomberg said. “This was an embarrassment what took place. It’s no wonder that the majority changed, because the public said enough. New York State just can’t survive this way. I think Diane Savino is with him…she also, she is a strong willed woman. She represents a part of New York City, they want results. They are not happy with the way government is going. It’s not that they were pro-Republican or anti-Democrat or pro-Democrat or anti-Republican. They just said we want to have better government.”
Bloomberg of course has long been someone who eschewed party labels and encouraged others to do the same. A Democrat-turned-Republican, he dropped out of that party in 2007, presumably to run for President even though at the time he claimed that having no party label was more in touch with his values.
And last year he appeared at the “No Labels” conference in New York City, an effort by elected officials and others to avoid, as the group’s manifesto put it, the “hyper-partisanship is destroying our politics and paralyzing our ability to govern.”
Bloomberg made the comments during a news conference after Andrew Cuomo’s State of the State speech. He had high praise for the governor, telling the press that “I’m happy to see that he is approaching the challenges like a CEO, looking at government problems through a management lens.”
Bloomberg was also asked where he was on Christmas Day as the blizzard approached the city. The press have been trying to determine Bloomberg’s whereabouts, and his office is, as their standard practice, refused to release details of the mayor’s private time.
“I started out at Saint Patrick’s for Midnight Mass,” the mayor said. “Where all Jewish boys go.”
