Wednesday, May 22, 2013
WASHINGTON – New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg apparently isn’t done advocating for former Gov. Angus King in Maine’s Senate race.
The New York Times reported Wednesday that Bloomberg – the billionaire founder of his self-named financial data services and media empire – is creating a super PAC to funnel $10 million to $15 million into select campaigns across the country in the weeks before the election.
The paper lists King’s campaign among them.
If so, this will be the third time that Bloomberg has put his name and his money behind King, an independent still regarded as the race leader. The mayor has already given $500,000 to Americans Elect, a nonprofit that plans to spend at least $1.7 million on independent ads intended to help King. Bloomberg also hosted a fundraiser for the candidate in New York on Tuesday.
Federal law prohibits both Americans Elect and Bloomberg’s Independence USA PAC from collaborating with the King campaign. Critics of those laws point out, however, that the prohibition is almost impossible to enforce.
The Times reported that Bloomberg plans to support candidates in state and federal races that share his views on legalizing same-sex marriage, supporting tougher gun laws and “overhauling schools.”
The campaign of the Republican contender in the Maine Senate race, Charlie Summers, has already attempted to use the Bloomberg connection to suggest that King might support additional gun control.
“Knowing that billionaire Mayor Bloomberg is bankrolling Angus King’s campaign, will King take up Bloomberg’s national gun control crusade in the Senate and push federal legislation to impose stricter limits on Mainers’ ability to own firearms?” Summers’ spokesman, Drew Brandewie, said in a written missive on Tuesday.
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Kevin Miller is Washington bureau chief for the Portland Press Herald and MaineToday Media. He has worked as a journalist in Maine for 6 ½ years, covering the environment, politics and the State House. Before arriving in Maine, he wrote about politics, government and education for newspapers in Virginia and Maryland.
Kevin can be reached at 317-6256 or kmiller@mainetoday.com
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