Bloomberg: Democratic State Sen. Johnson Cares About Kids

Speaking of NY political stuff, nice to see Bloomberg supporting Craig Johnson (in addition to Sam Hoyt – Bloomberg's fundraiser for him is this afternoon from 4-6 at the Harvard Club! See http://edreform.blogspot.com/2010/05/sam-hoyt.html):

Bloomberg: Democratic State Sen. Johnson Cares About Kids »

By Celeste Katz

http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/dailypolitics/2010/05/bloomberg-democratic-state-sen.html#ixzz0ndFCbj8a

Here's another interesting tidbit from Mayor Bloomberg's Q&A with reporters today, as passed along by the industrious Adam Lisberg of our City Hall Bureau.

Asked if he'd get involved in any of this year's races for state Senate or Assembly, the mayor said he mostly would not -- but he did single out one lawmaker, Democratic State Sen. Craig Johnson (who is currently under fire from the AFL-CIO along with other Senate Dems):

"Generally, I have said that I will stay out of those. There are a handful, however, where I've already told the people that are running that I will support them. The courageous act of standing up for charter schools, for example, Craig Johnson out on Long Island. He was the only one that stood up about a month and a half ago. And lemme tell you, I care about our kids. And I think that's exactly the kind of guy we should have here. I don't necessarily agree with him on everything. But that's a seminal issue. Anybody can vote against giving our kids better education. I just find it unfathomable. And I will support him because of that one vote..."

This is interesting not so much in that Bloomberg says he'd back Johnson (and maybe others) on the basis of their support for education. That's been a bedrock issue in his administration. He's also been a longtime fan of nonpartisan voting.

But it does come at an interesting time because the mayor, a Democrat-turned-Republican-turned-independent who first switched parties to run for his current job, has contributed SO generously to the state Senate GOP, and this is a crucial election year for the balance of power in that chamber.

Some quick calculations (made infinitely quicker by the help of Mr. Lisberg's past research) show that since 2000, Bloomberg has personally given about $2.3 million to the various accounts of the New York Republican State Committee and $1.29 million to the NYS Senate Republican Campaign Committee.

That's not to say Bloomberg hasn't given to Democrats and, of course, to the Independence Party, but it's worth noting.