Michael Bloomberg’s expensive purchase

You often hear politicians say they want to win because of their desire to serve the public. There are a lot of ways someone can serve their community and make a huge difference. Political office is certainly one of them, or at least it can be, but helping in this capacity requires a tremendous amount of time and money. At some point, even the most dedicated public servant has to wonder if the resources spent on a campaign are actually worth it. After all, if your purpose in life is to truly serve the public, then isn’t it possible that the time and money spent to obtain office could be put to better use? Of course it can, but I’ll assume that New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg disagrees.

After spending $74 million on his first mayoral campaign and $85 million on his second, Bloomberg went ahead and spent $102 million to win this years mayoral race. If you’re keeping track at home, that’s a whopping $183 for each vote. What would possess someone to do such a thing?

Most would agree that there are a plethora of ways to improve the city outside of politics, and he’s not doing it for the money, since the job only pays $85,000 annually. That leads me to the answer that you’ve probably known all along: Ego. A desire to see his name in the newspaper, his face on TV, and to be recognized where ever he goes. Or perhaps the position is just a toy for the guy who has everything.

Whatever Michael Bloomberg’s reason is for wanting to be Mayor, no one can deny that the campaign system is broken, and that people like him damage it further. Michael Bloomberg also shouldn’t take too much pride in his victory. His opponent, Michael Thompson raised a little over $8 million as of October 1st, yet despite being out-spent 13 to 1, lost by only 5 percentage points. If Mr. Bloomberg runs for a fourth term, he’ll probably need to crack the $200 million mark to buy that election.