In the clearest sign yet that Borough President Markowitz is not running for mayor in 2009, the Beep is barely raising any money.
Compared to his January campaign finance filings, when Markowitz was in the hunt for pivotal funds, his fundraising over the last six months has practically come to a screeching halt.
Over the past six months, Markowitz added just $34,818 to his war-chest, which now has $935,116 in it.
That’s not the haul of a serious candidate, said former City Councilman turned lobbyist Ken Fisher.
“Any serious candidate for mayor wants to be in at least third gear at this point,” he said. “Right now, his fundraising numbers clearly don’t augur for a citywide race.”
By comparison, Council Speaker Quinn raised $614,080 over the past half-year, bringing her total to $3,090,210. And neither Rep. Anthony Weiner nor Comptroller Bill Thompson filed their papers on time — but both are still way ahead of Markowitz. Six months ago, Weiner had $3,599,433 and Thompson had $4,228,931.
This week, Markowitz didn’t address his fundraising shortfall, issuing a statement that repeated his standard pronouncement that he has not made up his mind about whether to run. But the near cessation of dialing–for–dollars and cocktail parties suggests otherwise.
Nonetheless, Markowitz is still near the top in the polls. This week, a Quinnipiac survey suggested that the Beep is slightly ahead of all likely Democrats with 12 percent support, versus 11 percent for Weiner, 10 percent for Quinn and 8 for Thompson.
“It’s flattering especially in such a distinguished field,” Markowitz said in a non-committal statement. “The voters are my bosses, so, believe me, I feel the way any working person feels when we get a good performance review — it inspires me to work even harder.”
