By Josh Rogers
Mayor Mike Bloomberg, in a scheduled stop-and-chat outside City Hall, endorsed Daniel Squadron for State Senate Tuesday.
“We’ll never get reform in Albany if we don’t send reformers there,” Bloomberg said in a prepared statement. “By helping move hundreds of millions of dollars out of our school bureaucracies and into city classrooms, and by helping us raise nearly $3 billion for transit infrastructure, Daniel Squadron’s record [of] getting things done for New Yorkers is already more impressive than many lifelong legislators.”
Squadron faces State Sen. Martin Connor in the Sept. 9 Democratic primary for the 25th District, which includes City Hall, most of Lower Manhattan and Downtown Brooklyn.
“I’m proud to earn his endorsement,” Squadron told Downtown Express. “I don’t agree with him on everything but we do agree on a lot… We both think government should do big and bold things.”
Squadron said reforming Albany is at the top of his list too. He said Bloomberg aides had reached out to him, and after several meetings they told him recently that the Bloomberg endorsement was imminent. The two camps arranged to have a brief conversation in City Hall Park.
Squadron, a former aide to U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer, worked to unseat Bloomberg in 2005, when he ran the field operation in U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner’s mayoral campaign. Weiner narrowly lost the Democratic primary so he never faced Bloomberg head to head.
Squadron also worked on the Bloomberg administration’s school empowerment program in 2006 and worked on the state campaign to pass a transportation bond act in 2005.
Mike Barfield, who started as Connor’s campaign manager this week, said the endorsement taints Squadron since the mayor has contributed heavily to State Senate Republicans.
“It really shows that Dan Squadron stands for Senate Republicans and maintaining their status quo in Albany,” Barfield said.
Squadron said he’s “a progressive Democrat.” He has also been endorsed by two organizations that usually back liberal Democrats — the Working Families Party and Acorn, which joined Assemblymember Brian Kavanagh in endorsing Squadron on Monday.
Conner netted several endorsements of his own this week, with City Council Speaker Christine Quinn planning to announce her support Thursday morning, along with Councilmembers Alan Gerson, Bill
di Blasio, Robert Jackson, John Liu and Rosie Mendez.
Josh@DowntownExpress.com
