Poor Bill Thompson

He's been sold out even by African American clergy. Or maybe better put, they sold out to Mayor Bloomberg.

Mr. Thompson was furious at the betrayal. But what he did not know was that Mr. Bloomberg gave a $1 million donation to the church’s development corporation — roughly 10 percent of its annual budget — with the implicit promise of more to come.

“What could I say to a man who was mayor, and was supportive of a lot of programs that are important to me?” Mr. Butts said in an interview before he endorsed Mr. Bloomberg. [...]

Some prominent ministers have been appointed by Mr. Bloomberg to influential city boards and committees. Others have enjoyed the administration’s help in buying city property or winning zoning concessions for pet projects. A few of the largest institutions, including Abyssinian and the Greater Allen A.M.E. Cathedral in Jamaica, Queens, have taken in millions of dollars in contracts to provide city services during Mr. Bloomberg’s eight years in office.

Looming over it all is Mr. Bloomberg’s dazzling wealth, whether already bestowed — as in the case of Mr. Butts — or hoped for down the line.

Say what you will about Bloomberg buying the race. But I remember that night in 2005 when he was re-elected. He won half the black vote, and 3 in 10 Latinos... running against a Puerto Rican. He won the gay vote, he won the Jewish vote. When you think about the way New York City was rent by the most vicious ethnic and gaybaiting politics under the Koch and Giuliani administrations, that alone is a triumph. In the year 2000, I don't think anyone could have ever imagined that kind of election night would ever occur in New York City.

While Mr. Giuliani seemed at times to relish antagonizing the ministers, Mr. Bloomberg has reached out in highly visible ways. After plainclothes police officers killed Sean Bell, an unarmed black man, Mr. Bloomberg immediately summoned the city’s top ministers to City Hall for a meeting and told them the shooting had been “inexplicable” and “unacceptable.”

More than 30 black ministers have publicly endorsed Mr. Bloomberg this year, their exuberant praise a sharp rejoinder to Mr. Thompson’s attack on the mayor as a plutocrat with little concern for the working class. Many more remain on the sidelines, where they can do the mayor little harm.

Bloomberg kept the city unified and gave everyone a voice. And on policy, even Wayne Barrett can't quite find a reason to throw him out.

He has returned rationality to New York City governance, and made the city the gorgeous mosaic that previous, well-intentioned mayors couldn't deliver on. It's easy to forget what New York was just nine years ago under the divisive politics of Rudy Giuliani, or thirty years ago under the divisive Ed Koch. It's easy to forget what it could return to in a New York City minute. We shouldn't. If bribery was the means to peace and good governance, I can live with it, at least for now.

JUSIPER endorses Independent Michael Bloomberg for a third term as Mayor of New York City.