Thompson, for his part, tried to paint Bloomberg as an out-of-touch billionaire whose economic policies have been unfair to working people.
He pointed out that Bloomberg has also raised taxes, including in 2002 after he said he wouldn’t during his 2001 campaign, and other times during his eight years in office.
“New Yorkers have watched you increase taxes year after year after year,” Thompson said.
During one exchange, Thompson said his plan to bridge the city’s budget deficit — projected to approach $5 billion next fiscal year — is to cut out “waste and fat in government.”
Bloomberg responded that Thompson “was the comptroller for the last eight years, and if there was all this waste, it’s a shame he didn’t point it out back then,” he said.
Thompson was asked by a debate panelist whether he would give back campaign donations that came from investment managers who do business with the city. As comptroller, his job includes overseeing the municipal pension fund system.
He said there was nothing inappropriate about it, but Bloomberg pounced. It has been one of his campaign’s favorite issues.
“Why don’t you give back the money?” Bloomberg said. “It looks terrible, even if it’s not, and most people would think it is.”
Inappropriate? Your damn right it is, Mr. Thompson. It’s inappropriate that your croneyism put the pension fund into a slow-growing funk that’s being outpaced by just about every other municipal pension fund in the country, and instead of removing the people managing it, you’re keeping them on board.
Because of Thompson’s incompetence, the teacher’s union’s pension grew at a 4.0% rate, almost half that of other municipal pensions around the country, all on Thompson’s watch, and all while being overseen by his cronies, and this is the guy who wants to run the city? This is the guy who’s putting the “middle class” first?
Go Screw, Mr. Thompson. You wouldn’t know the middle class if it came up and punched you in the face.
And right now, it probably should.