Tuesday, March 08, 2011

Sad story, but a great case study

Fred Siegel and Sol Stern explode the Mayor Michael Bloomberg bubble in this piece in the March Commentary.

The electorate includes (i) those who never vote; (ii) those who do vote, but on the basis of paper-thin due diligence and sophistication (hence the value of glitzy TV ads); and (iii) those with something tangible at stake (New York's public sector unions and many others who could be bought with gobs of Bloomberg money in the Siegel-Stern story).

The Mayor could orchestrate all of this beautifully -- until he muffed snow removal in the recent snow storms. There was also that business about the recession and declining revenues accruing to New York City government.

Read the article. It is apparently non-gated. It belongs in the next local politics case study compendium.