April 20, 2009
David W. Chen
The New York Times
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If only New Jersey could vote in New York City elections.
Or so Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg may be wishing, after securing the endorsement Friday of Cory A. Booker, the high-profile mayor of New Jersey’s largest city, Newark. Mr. Booker’s endorsement came the day after Jerramiah T. Healy, the mayor of Jersey City, was the guest of honor at a fundraiser at Mr. Bloomberg’s townhouse on the Upper East Side.
Both Mr. Booker and Mr. Healy, who faces re-election on May 12, are Democrats. But both have worked closely with Mr. Bloomberg, an independent who will run as a Republican in November, on gun control and other issues. Indeed, Mr. Booker, appearing at a news conference with Mr. Bloomberg in Harlem on Friday afternoon, paid what he said was his “highest compliment”: “He has become truly a great American.”
In particular, Mr. Booker praised Mr. Bloomberg’s record on crime, education and economic development. And he said that Mr. Bloomberg had — by focusing on pragmatic solutions, and not ideological ones — become a role model for younger mayors like him around the country.
“Mayor Bloomberg is simply the model in America,” Mr. Booker said.
After exchanging hugs with Mr. Booker, Mr. Bloomberg said: “Cory is my kind of mayor: He doesn’t believe in partisan politics, he’s not afraid to stand up to special interests. I can tell you, I and other mayors around the country learn from Cory Booker.”
Mr. Booker’s passionate and early endorsement can hardly come as good news for Mr. Bloomberg’s likely Democrat opponent in November, City Comptroller William C. Thompson Jr. Both he and Mr. Thompson are African-American, and the conventional wisdom has long held that Mr. Thompson needs overwhelming support from the African-American community to overcome Mr. Bloomberg’s huge advantage in money and name recognition.
When asked about the message his endorsement would send to Mr. Thompson, Mr. Booker said: “I’ve known Bill Thompson for years. He’s an exceptional leader. And he’s somebody that I have not only a respect for, but an affection for, frankly. And I think he’s got a tremendous future in leadership, and New York needs him.
“But right now, I know what I know, and I know that Mayor Bloomberg is not just the mayor of New York. He has become the national model, and he has become, in a professorial way, a help to dozens of mayors. Talk to Mayor Fenty. Talk to Mayor Kevin Johnson in Sacramento. Talk to Gavin Newsom in San Francisco. A lot of us younger, next-generation, thirty-something forty-something mayors have been relying on him for a long time as giving us examples and instruction in how to dramatic change in our cities.”
How did Mr. Thompson take the news?
In a statement, he focused on his theme of labeling Mr. Bloomberg as an out-of-touch aristocrat.
“I respect Mayor Booker, but hard-working people who actually live in New York know that we need change and that Michael Bloomberg offers four more years of the same,” Mr. Thompson said. ” New Yorkers are looking for new leadership, real results and a mayor that has a genuine understanding of the needs of all New Yorkers.”
