March 20, 2020 09:58 AM UTC

Bloomberg Giveth And Taketh Away

• 2 Comments
• by: Colorado Pols

CNN reports on the what appears to be the final disposition of Michael Bloomberg’s failed presidential campaign–a big check to the Democratic National Committee to help take out Donald Trump in November irrespective of the nominee:

Michael Bloomberg’s presidential campaign transferred $18 million to the Democratic National Committee on Friday, turning to the committee to fund and manage the effort to take down President Donald Trump instead of creating a Bloomberg-backed independent expenditure.

The transfer, according to memos from both Democratic groups, will go directly to increasing the size and scope of the DNC’s Battleground Build-Up 2020 effort, allowing the committee, according to an aide, to hire hundreds of organizers in a dozen key battleground states, including Arizona, Georgia, North Carolina, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

When he launched his late-entry presidential campaign, Bloomberg pledged to fund organizers in key battleground states through November, whether he won the nomination or not. The billionaire was unable to turn his self-funded campaign into any significant wins on Super Tuesday — he only won American Samoa — so he bowed out of the race and backed former vice president.

As we noted in this space, Bloomberg’s short-lived campaign bought up a huge swath of Colorado’s top political organizing talent, paying salaries several multiples of what would normally be expected for such jobs–and promising new hires that they would remain employed through the November elections regardless of what happened with Bloomberg’s presidential ambitions.

As of today, that appears to be a broken promise to all concerned:

A DNC aide said that while the hundreds of Bloomberg organizers who had been employed by the campaign can apply for the organizing jobs with the committee, they will not be given preferential treatment and “will have to apply with everyone else.”

Just as they have in prior election cycles, Democrats should welcome Bloomberg’s millions to help them grow the House majority, retake the U.S. Senate, and above all end Donald Trump’s political career. Arguably the money will be better spent by the party as opposed to an independent expenditure committee. In the context of the half-billion dollars Bloomberg essentially set on fire during his spectacularly failed presidential campaign, though, it seems like a pittance. In the end, this campaign was about Michael Bloomberg, and not altruistically saving America.

Here’s hoping all the people he hired on what turned out to be false pretenses have a soft landing.