Bloomberg a Co-Star at McManus Club

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A Democratic state committeeman, Carlos Manzano, and members of the McManus Midtown Democratic Association seemed to be focused on 2008 last night as they welcomed the city comptroller, William Thompson Jr., and the mayor, Michael Bloomberg, to their meeting.


Mr. Manzano, who is a candidate for borough president, introduced Mr. Thompson, a Democrat who is running for re-election, as “eventually the next mayor of New York City.”


Mr. Manzano, as if to explain the presence of Mr. Bloomberg, introduced the Republican by saying: “In spite of it all, the mayor is still the mayor.”


Mr. Bloomberg pretended not to notice.


“There is one thing that this club has stood for and that is building on the West Side, creating jobs,” he began, careful not to refer directly to the West Side stadium in a crowd that has stood against the mayor’s favored project.


In a question-and-answer session with reporters earlier in the day, Mr. Bloomberg made another impassioned case for building a new stadium over Manhattan’s Hudson Rail Yards. He spoke at length about the jobs, money, and events he expects the New York Sports and Convention Center to bring the city. He finished by saying the only people who were against the stadium were the owners of Madison Square Garden, who have been flooding the airwaves with anti-stadium commercials.


“There’s one company that’s spent over $30 million already trying to force me out of office,” he said, referring to Cablevision’s anti-stadium push. “And they’re not going to do it.”


***


In the process of casting himself as a so-called Giuliani Democrat, Rep. Anthony Weiner struck a tough line yesterday in a policy speech outlining his plans for combating crime and terrorism in New York, invoking the “broken windows” theory of policing and urging that the New York Police Department increase its use of technology in solving “cold cases” and preventing crime.


If elected mayor, Mr. Weiner said, he would hire 3,800 more police officers and would require that all sex offenders – whom he labeled “recidivist criminals” – submit a DNA sample to the state registry as a precautionary measure, even though current law does not require the filing of a DNA sample for offenders convicted before 1994.


Mr. Weiner also identified gangs as one of the greatest threats to New Yorkers’ security, suggesting as the appropriate response the speedier deportation of illegal immigrants convicted of felonies. Despite urging a greater crackdown on “gateway crimes” to prevent future felonies, however, Mr. Weiner would not advocate increased deportation of illegal immigrants convicted of minor offenses.


On the subject of protecting New York from terrorism, Mr. Weiner said the responsibilities of the mayor extended beyond city law enforcement. If elected, the congressman said, he would be more vocal than Mayor Bloomberg in advocating a foreign policy that would protect Americans from terrorist attacks. Mr. Weiner reiterated his harsh criticism of the Saudi regime and faulted Mr. Bloomberg for his unwavering support of the United Nations’ designs on New York parkland, even after Secretary-General Annan laid a wreath at the grave of Palestinian terrorist Yasser Arafat.


“This mayor is far too passive on issues that don’t fall into the tidy box of his job description,” Mr. Weiner said.


A spokesman for the Bloomberg campaign, Stuart Loeser, responded by saying: “Weiner has no public-safety record to speak of, and his proposals are riddled with exaggerations and misstatements.”


***


The Queens County Democratic Party voted to back the speaker of the City Council, Gifford Miller, in his bid to replace Mayor Bloomberg.


The endorsement is a boon to Mr. Miller, a Democrat from the Upper East Side, who has been aggressively courting support in the outer boroughs and among elected officials who can help bring constituents to polls in both the primary and the general elections.


Political analysts have long counted the Queens Democratic Party’s as the most significant county endorsement in the race. Last week, a political consultant, Evan Stavisky, told The New York Sun that it was one of the most “coveted endorsements of the season” and that organization was one of “the most unified, one of the most disciplined, and one of the most effective political organizations in the state.”


Mr. Miller’s relationship with Queens County has been strong for several years.


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