Borough President Markowitz was pressed and pressed on last Tuesday night’s edition of “Inside City Hall,” but he just wouldn’t say whether he was running for mayor.
But the Beep’s campaign finance disclosure forms indicate that Markowitz is already doing plenty of running — $200,000 worth of it, to be precise.
That’s how much money the still-undeclared Markowitz campaign spent on campaign-related expenses last year, putting him behind only Comptroller Bill Thompson and Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrion in the spending race.
In 2006, Markowitz paid $32,105 to Lake Research Partners, a prestigious national polling firm that has helped shepherd Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano, Louisiana Senator Mary Landrieu, and Arkansas Senator Blanche Lincoln to power; $64,836 to a campaign consultant, Izabella Vais; and thousands of dollars on office space in an undisclosed Brooklyn location.
Bob Meadow, a partner at Lake Research who has worked with Markowitz for years, brushed off the recent expenditures on polling as classic Markowitz behavior.
“Marty wants to be the best borough president he can be,” said Meadow. “That’s what he’s lived for.”
Meadow couldn’t elaborate on what specific polling Markowitz had requested, but he did say that $32,000 “typically buys a 600- or 800-person poll [that] explores the political landscape for re-election.”
Except, Meadow was reminded, term limits forbid Markowitz from running for re-election.
That’s when Meadow suggested that running for a citywide office would not be out of the question.
“Marty is a very enthusiastic and compelling leader, and New York has always been responsive to people who have strong personalities,” said Meadow. “I’m sure the people outside of Brooklyn would respond to him with the same enthusiasm as people in Brooklyn.”
Such vague implications are all that’s forthcoming from the unusually tight-tipped Beep.
During his appearance on NY1, host Dominic Carter virtually begged Markowitz to announce his candidacy, but Markowitz demurred, although he did entertain some interesting hypothetical scenarios.
“[Mayor Bloomberg’s] the wealthiest man that’s ever been mayor,” said Markowitz.
“Should I win, I’ll be the lowest-income mayor New York City has ever had. By the way, we’re both born Feb. 14 … although he’s three years older than me. But I’m shorter than him, by the way. And chubbier.”
If Markowitz makes the run, he’ll be jogging in a crowded field, including Thompson, Carrion, Council Speaker Christine Quinn (D-Manhattan) and Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-Sheepshead Bay), who ran for mayor last time.
Indeed, Markowitz’s citywide prospects got less-than-glowing reviews from Hank Sheinkopf, a political consultant.
“It will be tough, and you’ll have a lot of competent people in the race for Mayor,” said Sheinkopf. “Markowitz has done well in Brooklyn, but Brooklyn is not the entire city … and not having a citywide platform creates some problems.”
