Bloomberg has spent $64.8 million on 3rd campaign

NEW YORK — New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has spent $64.8 million of his own money in his bid for a third term and, since midsummer, has been spending campaign cash at a rate of $15,000 per hour.

The popular billionaire incumbent is heavily favored against Democrat William Thompson Jr., who has collected $8 million in donations and public matching funds. He has spent about half of it, or about one-sixteenth of what Bloomberg has spent.

Bloomberg, whose fortune is estimated at $17.5 billion by Forbes magazine, does not raise money and is allowed by law to spend as he wishes on his campaign. He must file expense reports, and his latest was released for a Friday deadline set by the city’s Campaign Finance Board.

Between his last report on July 11 and the end of the latest period on Sept. 28, the mayor has spent $28.2 million. That works out to about $15,000 per hour.

Bloomberg, who founded the financial information company that bears his name, is ranked by Forbes as the richest person in New York City and the eighth-richest American.

He has been blanketing airwaves and filling mailboxes with ads, spending seemingly without limit at a pace and intensity that doesn’t match the level of competition in the race.

Public opinion polls continue to find him with a comfortable lead over Thompson. A Quinnipiac University poll last week had Bloomberg leading by 16 points.

Yet, with one month to go until Election Day, Bloomberg has already spent $33.5 million on advertising, millions on polling and the best strategists and consultants, and tens of thousands on staff perks like food and transportation — expenses that city campaigns often expect their volunteers and workers to cover themselves.

For instance, the latest report shows the mayor has paid more than $118,000 in rental car bills for vans that transport canvassers around city neighborhoods that aren’t accessible by public transportation.

The Thompson campaign called Bloomberg’s latest finance report “obscene” and said he is spending his money on “lies, distortions and baseless attacks.”

Bloomberg has recently begun running ads that attack Thompson, the city’s comptroller, by name.

Thompson has been suffering from money woes — he has had trouble with fundraising and did not get a donations bounce after he won his party’s nomination Sept. 15.

Bloomberg also spares no expense on huge, flashy events. He dropped more than $15,000 on a party billed for young black professionals and $300,000 on a bash he threw the night of the Democratic primary, when he was not competing in any primary race but wanted some of the spotlight.

The former Republican is not registered with any party, but he is running on the Republican and Independent Party lines.

By this point in the last mayoral race in 2005, when Bloomberg was also favored over his Democratic challenger, he had spent about $46.6 million. He went on to spend $85 million, while his opponent spent $10 million.

Bloomberg has defended his jaw-dropping spending as something he has the right to do, and says it is expensive to get out his message.

A Quinnipiac University poll at the end of August found that 78 percent of voters had seen the mayor’s television commercials, and of those, 47 percent said they were annoying.

Asked about that finding, Bloomberg said:

“I’ve got to get my message out and the only ways I know how to do that is to pay for ads — which I’m paying for with money that I made — to inform the public on what I’ve done and what I would do,” he said.