Outsider? No, just an outspender

By MICHAEL SAUL
DAILY NEWS CITY HALL BUREAU

Mayor Bloomberg justified his sky-is-the-limit campaign spending in 2001 by saying he said he was an outsider to city politics and needed extra cash to get his message out.

So what's his excuse now?

After his win in 2001, Bloomberg vowed he would "certainly consider" self-imposed spending limits if he ran for reelection because he wouldn't be able to cite his political rookie status to defend another high-roller campaign.

"Certainly the argument that an outsider doesn't have recognition would not be the case. [It] would not apply to me in four years," Bloomberg said in December 2001.

Cut to this year, and the billionaire's already spent $10 million on his reelection effort, capped last week by the rollout of the first of many TV commercials.

The reason, said Bill Cunningham, a senior campaign aide, has a lot to do with a $25 million-plus onslaught of negative advertising over the past year from Cablevision, the chief opponent of the proposed West Side Stadium.

"We're not going to sit back and take this bashing," Cunningham explained. "We have to get his record out and we have to get it out after this avalanche attacking him."

The mayor's four major Democratic rivals, Cunningham added, will probably spend more than $20 million combined during the primary.

"They don't want to fight with each other, so add that to the pot," he said.

The Democratic nominee will spend more than $10 million in the general election, Cunningham said. And at least one police group has pledged to spend $2 million in TV ads opposing the mayor, he said.

So according to Cunningham's calculations, the mayor is way, way behind in the spending race.

"With all the negative clutter that will be out there, we need to be able to put our message out and get our record out," Cunningham said.

In 2001, Bloomberg spent $74 million to win the mayoralty, shattering city records. Bloomberg aides said it's too early to determine how much money will be spent this year.

Bloomberg's rivals, predicting he will spend more than $100 million this year, described the mayor's spending as a major threat to good government.

"There's no question that having candidates who are willing to spend untold sums of money creates unlevel playing fields," said City Council Speaker Gifford Miller, a Manhattan Democrat seeking to unseat Bloomberg.

Former Bronx Borough President Fernando Ferrer, another Democratic candidate, also blasted the mayor.

"Mike Bloomberg said he needed to spend $74 million when New Yorkers didn't know him," Ferrer said.

"Now that they know him and the effects of his bad policies ... he'll probably need to spend double that in order to manufacture a new image.

"But I'm confident New Yorkers can't be bought," Ferrer added.