At last night's Working Families Party mayoral forum with Mayor Michael Bloomberg, City Comptroller Bill Thompson and City Councilman Tony Avella, Bloomberg defended his campaign spending, "I made every dime that I have... I've used my money only to talk about what I would do and what I have done. There's nothing wrong with that as far as I can see... Rich people don’t always win...You can't buy an election. The public's much too smart for that. You can use it to get a message out." The NY Times, though, found the explanation "drew some hisses and even laughter."
Bloomberg also said his staff was looking at whether NYC could mandate paid sick days (he supports it for large businesses, doesn't know about impact on small ones) and said his administration's homelessness policy made shelters "much more humane and civilized." However, Thompson and Avella questioned Bloomberg's reluctance to raise taxes on the rich.
The Times also reports that, per crowd reaction, Bloomberg seemed the "least popular of the three" while Avella "seemed to generate the most applause" and notes that the WFP endorsement is "especially crucial to Mr. Thompson, the presumptive Democratic nominee, because he trails Mr. Bloomberg badly in polls and has watched many Democrat-friendly unions and officials back the mayor." The WFP will endorse a candidate on July 9. And Reverend Billy, who is also running for mayor, wonders why the WFP didn't respond to his application to appear at the forum; the WFP claims they never received one.
