By William Lewis
A recent Quinnipiac University poll of possible 2010 New York gubernatorial candidates revealed some interesting results. Of those registered state voters polled, 30 percent of them favored Mayor Michael Bloomberg, 26 percent former Mayor Rudy Giuliani, 23 percent Gov. David Paterson, 15 percent state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo and 6 percent had no answer or favored other candidates.
Bloomberg and Giuliani remain politically ambitious and active after their presidential bids failed this year. Both prospective gubernatorial candidates during the past several weeks have been maneuvering to put their own person in the position of Republican state chairman, but so far have not been successful.
When comparing Bloomberg and Giuliani to other politically ambitious mayors of the last 70 years, we find some interesting differences. Those mayors who sought higher office and failed during this time included Fiorello LaGuardia, Robert Wagner, John Lindsay and Edward Koch, all part of the party establishment that existed during their mayoral tenures.
What is also important is that they all held an elective office before becoming mayor. LaGuardia served several terms in the U.S. House of Representatives before being elected mayor in 1933 as a Republican and later as an independent. Wagner served as Manhattan borough president before successfully running for mayor in 1953. He rose through the Democratic party ranks, following in the footsteps of his father, former U.S. Sen. Robert Wagner Sr. Lindsay served as a Republican member of the House before being elected mayor in 1965. Koch also served in the House for several terms before becoming mayor in 1977.
In the cases of Bloomberg and Giuliani, neither held elective office before becoming mayor, although Giuliani did serve in government-appointed positions as a U.S. attorney and member of the Justice Department during the Reagan administration. Bloomberg came straight from a very successful business career. A rich man, he spent huge amounts of money from his own personal fortune in his successful 2001 mayoral campaign.
Even if we consider mayors during this period who were not ambitious in seeking higher office, like William O'Dwyer, Abe Beame and David Dinkins, they also held other elective offices before becoming mayor. The most politically ambitious mayor who served immediately after the turn of the 20th century was George McClellan Jr., son of a Civil War Union general.
He, like Bloomberg and Giuliani, was interested in running for New York governor. He had served in the House before becoming mayor. He got into a conflict with Tammany Hall leaders, however, which was the Democratic Party machine that strongly influenced city politics during that period. He failed in his attempt to become governor.
Bloomberg and Giuliani are the first mayors affected by term limits. If not for term limits, Giuliani might still be mayor, completing his fourth term and Bloomberg might not have become mayor.
In any case, their political careers, including time as mayor, seem to have developed under a different set of circumstances. The same barriers that have affected other mayors in the quest for higher office, however, seem to have affected Bloomberg and Giuliani.
The very nature of their mayoral position leads them to having to deal with many competing economic interests, each with its own agenda. In that situation, no matter how well a mayor is in handling such groups, he is bound to make some political enemies who can be instrumental later in thwarting a mayor's desire for higher office.
There can also be different priorities in upstate and downstate voting blocks that can adversely affect a mayor's bid for governor. In all, it can be said that Bloomberg and Giuliani represent a different type of mayor from what we have had in the past. How this will affect their future political careers will be demonstrated during the next two years and possibly beyond that.
