NEW YORK—Though Mayor Michael Bloomberg has repeatedly said he’s not running for president in 2012, it keeps sounding like he wants to.
On Monday, Bloomberg released a report that took aim at gerrymandering, the politically corrupt practice whereby a party reshapes districts in order to ensure their re-election.
"The current system for drawing districts protects incumbents, promotes ideological extremism, and reduces voter choice," said Mayor Bloomberg.
"Gerrymandering is part of the reason why compromise and bi-partisanship are so rare these days. Voters in California and Florida overwhelmingly passed redistricting reforms in recent elections, and there's no reason why … we can't do the same here. It would be one of the best things to happen to Albany since the building of the Erie Canal."
In the most recent elections, the report found that across the country, 49 percent of candidates elected to the U.S. House of Representatives and 57 percent of candidates elected to state legislatures won their races with margins of victory greater than 30 points, or faced no opposition at all. States with nonpartisan redistricting had races that were, on average, 14 percent closer for the state legislature and 24 percent closer for Congress, and candidates in state legislative districts drawn through a nonpartisan process were 20 percent less likely to run unopposed.
Bloomberg’s recent statements about national politics have painted him as an independent, concerned with pragmatic solutions and rabidly attacking partisanship.
In his weekly radio address on Sunday, Bloomberg congratulated the White House and Republicans on working to extend tax cuts. He also took the opportunity to take a swipe at partisanship.
"It's a sign that bi-partisanship really is possible in Washington. And that's a very good thing—because as long as our leaders spend more energy on partisan attacks than getting things done, our nation will only fall further and further behind our international competitors,” said Bloomberg.
“We desperately need Washington to come together and take on long-term challenges like cutting the deficit. And in the short term, we need them to put aside their differences and forge centrist solutions that will put Americans back to work and get our economy moving again.”
