Bloomberg’s Toledo campaign office defaced
Democratic presidential candidate Mike Bloomberg’s campaign field office in Toledo was defaced just before the space was to mark its grand opening Thursday.
Pink banners with “oligarch” and “broken windows, broken homes” were tacked on the windows sometime overnight at 326 Erie St. in downtown Toledo, visible to morning commuters in a busy section of town.
The signs defacing the office covered smaller ones with “I like Mike” advertising the campaign and the new space in the former Chicago Title Insurance Co. building.
“Broken windows” is a reference to a controversial policing theory once embraced in New York City.
Another sign said “a billion dollars for a billion collars,” or arrests.
Asked to comment on the incident, the campaign’s Ohio communications director, Meredith Tucker, said: “Income inequality is a real issue in this country, and Mike believes it must be addressed. That’s why Mike believes in raising taxes on the wealthy (like himself ), which is exactly what he did as Mayor of New York City.
As president, Mike’s All-In Economy agenda will bring jobs and income growth to Ohio families who have been shortchanged by the broken promises of the Trump administration.”
The former New York City mayor and multi-billionaire is the first 2020 Democratic presidential candidate to have a campaign field office in Toledo. The space still had a formal opening Thursday.
Since launching his campaign in late November, Bloomberg has hired nearly 100 paid staffers in Ohio and plans to open a dozen field offices across the state, an enormous investment unmatched by other Democratic candidates.
The former mayor, who founded a financial news and information empire and is self-funding his campaign from a $60 billion personal fortune, has been criticized for his past support of the controversial “stop-and-frisk” policing practice, which he apologized for before launching his campaign.
But he came under fire again this week after a yearsold audio clip surfaced in which Bloomberg makes racially charged remarks while discussing the policy, a crisis his team is struggling to contain before Bloomberg competes in high stakes Super Tuesday nominating contests.
“Stop-and-frisk” grew out of “broken windows” policing — targeting small crimes in an effort to prevent more serious ones — which was instituted in New York City by Bloomberg’s predecessor, Rudy Giuliani, now President Trump’s personal attorney.
Bloomberg will appear on the ballot in Ohio’s March 17 presidential primary.
The former mayor is the first 2020 Democratic presidential candidate to have a campaign field office in Toledo.