Apr 5, 2006 6:50 pm US/Eastern
Mayor Asks Fat Cats: What's In Your Wallet?
by Andrew Kirtzman
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
Welcome to the political cash machine known as Manhattan. Every year, politicians from around America converge upon the metropolis in search of campaign cash.
Today, Mayor Bloomberg put up the stop sign. "If they want help from us," he said, "there's nothing unreasonable about us asking them to give us help."
He convened an extraordinary gathering of moguls and millionaires. And he did it at the ultimate corporate power room, the Four Seasons.
There, he gave his fellow captains of industry a lesson in the political quid pro quo. He cited as a role-model an indicted congressman. "Tom DeLay knew how to do it," he said.
The mayor distributed a card with a checklist of important issues to the city, from increased homeland security money to funds for the JFK rail link.
But it won't be easy. Many of the moguls in that room have corporate interests in Washington that could clash with the mayor's goals. Even Bloomberg could have problems.
During the mayor's race last year, Democrat Fernando Ferrer criticized Bloomberg for writing checks to a raft of conservative Republicans. Bloomberg says both he and the corporate chiefs will have to weigh all their priorities when deciding what to do.
Many well-known donors say they're ready to sign up with the cause. But the Republican mayor has floated this idea before. In 2003, he suggested donors withhold money from congressmen working against the interests of the city.
The result was a nasty spat with the most powerful Republican in congress at the time: Tom DeLay.
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