Lupica, on Bloomberg's campaign of inevitability, omits DOF and AY

New York Daily News columnist Mike Lupica, essentially a sports columnist, periodically writes about local and national politics; today he turns his attention to the implied inevitability of Mayor Mike Bloomberg's campaign for a third term in the wake of the controversial extension of term limits.

The signal example of such inevitability is Bloomberg's enormous campaign spending, which is evident from the advertisements that wrap the column.

(Note that the ostensible URL for the column, linked from the home page, is somehow disabled, but Lupica's columnist page and another URL do offer the column. Click on graphics to enlarge.)

Lupica writes:
Bloomberg is going to spend so much of his own money on a third term there will be times over the next six months when you'll barely be able to notice he's running at all.
It's why the real theme of Bloomberg's reelection campaign - one begun with $4.5 million worth of television commercials - is this, whether the mayor comes right out and says it or not:
As irreplaceable as he is in tough times like these, he's almost too busy to have to actually run for reelection, against Controller Bill Thompson or anybody else.

Too much credit

Lupica gives Bloomberg some credit:
Bloomberg has done so many good things since he saved the city from the bad manners of Giuliani, for which he ought to get a medal. He gave us 311 and never gave away the city to his friends.
He asked for and got better accountability from city agencies. For eight years he didn't swap political favors like trading cards, at least until he decided he wasn't ready to leave and acted like a vest-pocket Giuliani.
He did turn into about half-a-nut on the Olympics and that West Side Stadium, but all politicians with egos like Bloomberg's eventually become obsessed with building things, and legacies.

As for better accountability from city agencies, OK, but that omits the performance of the Department of Finance (DOF) in the swift and curious reassessment of the Yankee Stadium site.

And Bloomberg's edifice complex extends to Atlantic Yards, which spurred such controversy that even former Deputy Mayor Dan Doctoroff said, in hindsight, should have gone through the city's Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP) rather than the state process that omitted official local input.