New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg speaks at a news conference at
City Hall on April 25. The billionaire mayor has been spending from his
personal fortune to provide a "political counterweight to the NRA," his
policy adviser says. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)NPR
Bloomberg's first target is a Democratic senator facing a tough fight for re-election in 2014: Mark Pryor of Arkansas.
Pryor knows he's a marked man. Whether he's actually sweating it is the question. He's said it before, and he's saying it now: He doesn't take gun advice from the mayor of New York City. He listens to Arkansas.
"I guess the way I look at it [is] it's just another one of the outside groups that's going to try to come in," he says. "I think, you know, honestly, that's what's wrong with politics today is all these outside groups come in and try to do that. But I can't stop it from happening."
Pryor was one of four Democrats who voted against a proposal to expand background checks last week, and Bloomberg, the founder of Mayors Against Illegal Guns, is trying to make sure Pryor pays. Bloomberg plans to pour money into months of TV ads, radio ads and mailings to defeat the Arkansas senator. His group says it has spent $12 million in the months since the Newtown, Conn., school shootings on field campaigns and commercials across the country.
"This is just a toe in the water," says John Feinblatt, Bloomberg's chief policy adviser. And toe in the water is right — this is a guy Forbes estimates to be worth about $27 billion. Bloomberg will also be doling out money to help re-election campaigns of lawmakers who voted for gun control — both Democrats and Republicans.
"The mayor and others are going to provide the political counterweight to the NRA," Feinblatt says. "It has had the field to itself for decades, and that has to stop. And that time has come."
What do you think? Is Sen. Pryor as unconcerned as he says?
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