New York, NY —
Mayor Mike Bloomberg and his Democratic opponent Comptroller Bill Thompson faced off in their second and final debate last night. WNYC's Bob Hennelly was there and has this report.
REPORTER: The entire Upper West Side block was packed in front of the WABC Broadcast Center with hundreds of pro-Bloomberg construction trade unionists with yelps and cheers cut through the cool night air.
Kevin Brady, with the Plumbers Union, says the current economic crisis is hitting the building trades hard.
BRADY: And we need a guy like Mike Bloomberg to bring us back, put the members back to work.
REPORTER: Around the corner, a few dozen Thompson backer were led in chants by Thompson backer George Mack.
MACK: When you have somebody like Bloomberg who is a billionaire it sets a precedent for anybody who is a billionaire to go and buy an election.
REPORTER: Inside, Mayor Bloomberg took every opportunity to do in person to his opponent what his multi-million dollar ad campaign has aimed for on https://schnabel.wnyc.org/admin/index.html?form=articlethe air waves. A reporter's question about the City's double digit unemployment rate redirected by the mayor to attack Thompson's tenure as School Board President and his performance as Comptroller overseeing the City's pensions.
BLOOMBERG: The only jobs he has ever created are patronage jobs in the old Board of Ed and maybe some jobs with some money managers and placement agents.
REPORTER: For his part Thompson did his best to cast the Mayor as an out of touch billionaire who used his vast wealth to buy support and overturn voter approved term limits.
THOMPSON: And now he continues to spend an extreme amount of money to try and have the voters of New York forget get that he overturned term limits. he betrayed their trust and ignored their wishes.
REPORTER: Mayor Bloomberg says he backs a charter Commission to study the issue of term limits and come up with a proposal to put on the ballot for voters to vote on. For WNYC I am Bob Hennelly.