A Couple Of Good Reasons Not To Support Bill Thompson

The first one is that he ran one of the worst mayoral campaigns in modern NYC history.

That he didn't know he was within 5 percentage points of Bloomberg despite Herr Mayor's overwhelming cash advantage  in '09 speaks to the Thompson campaign's incompetence and unprofessionalism.

Hey, Bill, spend a little money and take a freaking internal poll and see where you stand, you know?

So that's the first reason I wouldn't support the guy.

The second is, take a look at who is funding him:

Al Damato - $47,550 (money bundled from Mack Family real estate developers and other establishment figures)

and:

Thompson has raked in thousands of dollars in donations from notable public figures in education, including American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten, New York State Board of Regents Chancellor Merryl Tisch and, most recently, Matthew Goldstein, chancellor of the City University of New York, filings show.

Weingarten, who worked closely with Thompson when the pair overlapped during previous city education posts more than a decade ago, gave $2,000 to his campaign in two installments on Jan. 10 and Jan. 11. Tisch contributed $4,950 — the maximum allowed by the city’s campaign finance laws — to Thompson’s six-month haul ending in January, which totaled more than $1 million.

In his latest three-month filing, which totaled $322,000 and ended last week, Thompson took in $500 from Goldstein, records show. Goldstein, who along with Weingarten sits on Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s Education Reform Commission, gave the maximum $4,950 to Republican candidate Joe Lhota, a member of CUNY’s Board of Trustees.

...

Thompson got money from another former colleague, Harold Levy, chancellor of the New York City school system from 2000 to 2002. In an interview, Levy was more effusive in his praise for Thompson, who helped force out his predecessor Rudy Crew at the request of Mayor Rudy Giuliani and install Levy in his place over Giuliani’s pick.

“He’s honest, he forthright, he’s principled, he knows education, and he’s a good manager, so I like him a lot,” said Levy, who has given $600 to Thompson since last summer.

That so many establishment figures who promote the privatization of the public education system want to donate to Thompson's campaign tells you a whole bunch about what kind of mayor this guy would be.

And when you see Al Damato and the real estate criminals donating to Thompson, that really should raise some red flags.

So pay no attention to the jive Thompson says on the campaign trail.

Pay attention to the people who are funding his campaign.

It seems likely, as Michael Fiorillo has pointed out, that the establishment is funding him to keep him in the race in order to take votes away from Liu and de Blasio and ensure Quinn - the pol the establishment figures they can most live with - doesn't have a run off.