Paterson Mayor Sayegh backs Bloomberg for President
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Paterson Mayor Andre Sayegh is backing former New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg for President of the United States.
Sayegh cited Bloomberg’s record of tackling the tough issues head on like gun violence prevention, support for an urban agenda, and the Greenwood initiative for economic mobility and home ownership as reasons for his support.
“Reducing gun violence in Paterson is my chief priority, and Michael Bloomberg has been a fierce leader on this important issue, taking on the gun lobby and siding with Americans fighting for sensible gun laws. Mike has also consistently supported and promoted an urban agenda that focuses on data-driven policy, civic innovation, and sustainability-all values that we embrace in Paterson,” said the Mayor of Paterson.
There’s a bond there.
In 2018, Sayegh was one of 40 mayors worldwide to participate in the yearlong Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative, offered by faculty from Harvard Business School and Harvard Kennedy School of Government, as well as world-class experts in government innovation from Bloomberg Philanthropies’ global network.
Mayor of Paterson since 2018, Sayegh previously served on the Paterson City Council from 2008 to 2018. He was a member of the Paterson Board of and remains an adjunct professor at Passaic County Community College, where he has taught for 17 years and served as the Director of Job Readiness and Customized Training.
“Mike’s investments in programs such as the Bloomberg-Harvard City Leadership Initiative, the Center for Government Excellence at Johns Hopkins University, Financial Empowerment Centers, and CityLab have created a nationwide network of passionate municipal leaders who share best practices and new ideas that positively impact millions across the country,” Sayegh said of his presidential choice. “In a special way, I enthusiastically embrace Mike’s Greenwood Initiative, an ambitious yet attainable vision for economic mobility and homeownership which would provide a game-changing level of federal support for cities like Paterson. Therefore, I am profoundly proud to endorse the man who will take on and take out Trump, Michael Bloomberg for President.”
Like other New Jersey pols, Sayegh affixed himself to the candidacy of U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D-N.J.) as long as Booker was in the presidential contest.
Many establishment New Jersey Democrats – including Governor Phil Murphy and Democratic State Party Chairman John Currie (key Sayegh allies) – wanted to get behind former Vice President Joe Biden once Booker dropped his candidacy. But a fourth place Biden finish in Iowa and fifth place finish in New Hampshire revealed a wounded one-time frontrunner as the former vice president limps into Nevada and South Carolina.
Sayegh was waiting for the right moment to back his fellow big city-tested mayor.
That moment came today.
“Bloomberg for President,” the mayor told InsiderNJ.
The Patersonian’s endorsement highlighted a key New Jersey voice in a network among urban mayors (100 of whom have already stepped forward to back him) that Bloomberg possesses around the country, a potent complement to unprecedented millions ($300 million to date) the multi-billionaire will put into his presidential campaign.
Sayegh’s endorsement of Bloomberg follows the those of the 1st Latino mayor of Millville Michael Santiago, the 1st African American councilman in Mount Laurel Kareem Pritchett, the youngest member in the history of Mount Laurel Stephen Steglik, Keyport Councilman Mathew Goode and Highlands Councilman Roy Dellosso.
“As the mayor of the 3rd largest city in the State of New Jersey and one of the most diverse cities in the nation, Mayor Sayegh is on the forefront of leading an economic renaissance to revitalize the city of Paterson and recognizes that Mike Bloomberg is the best candidate to support those efforts,” said Michael Muller, the New Jersey State Director for Mike Bloomberg 2020. “This latest endorsement continues to reflect the building momentum in New Jersey for Mike’s candidacy and is the latest example of the deep support he is building for New Jersey’s presidential primary.”
The former New York Mayor already snagged the support of U.S. Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-11).
Of course, the candidate is not without controversy, and his campaign has stepped up early efforts to minimize the damage from a story that hit this week. In the aftermath of a widely derided stop-and-frisk tape, in which the then-mayor expressed support for a program later ruled unconstitutional for unfiarly targeting minorites, Bloomberg adviser Tim O’Brien went on MSNBC on Wednesday and said, “Stop-and-frisk was a mistake. Mike regrets it.”
In my view, the mayor of Paterson is a “corporate stooge” and a person like Bloomberg is his corporate master. For the average person living in US, Bernie is the better choice by far.