What Happens To Merryl Tisch If Bill Thompson Is Elected Mayor?

I know, I know - it's a big if.

Thompson is still mired in the mid teens with Bill de Blasio while Christine Quinn is in the low 30's.

But she's dropping fast and Anthony Weiner, for all the publicity he's getting with his re-emergence into public life, has very high negatives and a ceiling of support.

So let's say all that cash Merryl Tisch, the new co-chair of the Thompson campaign, along with all that cash Al D'amato is helping Thompson raise, puts him in second place for a September runoff.

And let's say that same pile of cash helps him beat Quinn (or Weiner) in that sameSeptember runoff and go on to beat the GOP candidate come November.

What happens to Merryl Tisch?

Can she remain Regents Chancellor after helping elect Thompson as mayor?

The mayor of NYC, the one with mayoral control of the city schools, would owe his job in part to Tisch (actually her family's money and connections, but you get the idea.)

Merryl Tisch may not think that's a major conflict of interest, and Bill Thompson may not think that's a major conflict of interest, but I know I think that's a major conflict of interest.

Of course, the Tisch family has an awful lot of money from all those movie theaters and Newport cigarettes they used to sell, and we all know how having a lot of money allows rich people to engage in the kinds of actions that ordinary mortals would not be allowed to engage in.

You know, like overturning term limits.

So she'll probably get away with remaining Thompson campaign co-chair and if Thompson wins, nobody will blink when she finishes out her chancellorship.

It's ordinary schlubs like you and me who have to follow the rules.