BLOOMBERG’S BIGGEST LIABILITY

His billions, seen as a strength, are actually a weakness

Mike Bloomberg’s awkward Sunday mea culpa over the millions of New Yorkers who were stopped and frisked by police during his 12 years as New York’s mayor is the strongest sign yet that the billionaire philanthropist is serious about the 2020 Democratic presidential primary.

The world’s ninth-richest human wanted a reset with black voters before formally entering the race last week, but Bloomberg’s biggest liability may actually be his billions — the very attribute that makes him a competitive candidate in the first place.

The need for an apology was clear enough. Bloomberg had aggressively, repeatedly defended the hyperactive use of stop-and-frisk, despite continuing crime reduction after the NYPD dramatically curtailed the practice in 2012; a federal judge later ruled it unconstitutional. Black and Latino voters, vital members of the Democratic base, were enraged by his refusal to admit he’d done anything wrong.

Cue Bloomy’s pricey retainers telling him to cut bait.

“I didn’t understand the full impact that stops were having on the black and Latino communities,” he told skeptical congregants at the Christian Cultural Center in Canarsie. “I was totally focused on saving lives, but as we all know, good intentions are not good enough.”

It takes a lot for a plutocrat to eat (caveated) crow, even before the flock of a friendly pastor. Which suggests that Bloomberg is finally, really, truly revving his money machine for a White House run.

“Taking this kind of very public move is an indication that he is serious,” said Hank Sheinkopf, a consultant who’s worked both for and against Bloomberg.

“If you look at what he spent to be mayor three times, it is quite a significant number,” Sheinkopf said. “Will he do the same thing again? It’s likely.”

Bloomberg’s net worth is greater than the GDP of more than 125 different countries. It’s a tempting matchup for centrist Democrats to imagine: selfmade man Bloomy against con man Trump.

But Democrats, who are supposed to be the party of the people, should recall what it means when a man worth $55 billion decides to buy some democracy.

Bloomberg’s New York record includes aggressive public health gains, reduced crime, and a stable budget. After the belligerent Rudy Giuliani, this taciturn newcomer “was a breath of fresh air,” recalls former Brooklyn Assemblyman Jim Brennan.

“If you want to live longer and healthier than the average American, then come to New York City,” Bloomberg was fond of saying; according to the numbers, he was right.

Still, the money. His wealth was unprecedented, and it distorted our democracy.

It first stormed into the 2001 mayoral race, with the ruins of the Twin Towers as a backdrop. Bloomberg’s run was seen as futile before Al Qaeda devastated New York. Free media, aka the news, was dominated by the Sept. 11 aftermath, affording little time for election coverage.

That left Bloomberg, a newly-minted Republican, and his Democratic opponent, Mark Green, to scrap for paid ads.

Bloomberg dominated. “I had a pollster, Mark Mellman,” Green recalled. “He came to me with about three weeks to go. He said, ‘I’ve got good news and bad news. The good news is, never have I had a client who’s been twenty points ahead three weeks out and then lose. The bad news is, he’s spending a million a day on ads, and gaining one point a day.’ ”

“I did the math and said, ‘Houston, we have a problem.’ ”

When polls closed, the gilded gatecrasher had spent a record $74 million — $99 per vote — to squeak past Green, an epic upset. Columnist Michael Wolff wrote that Bloomberg had reached “possibly as high a level of saturation — the number of people exposed to multiple Bloomberg impressions — as has ever been achieved by an American politician.”

Green, with a long career fighting money in politics as an elected official, author and lawyer, is still sore: “There was no answer to the tsunami of ads saying I was a jerk and he was the only answer after 9/11.”

Bloomberg went to work. Giuliani had bequeathed his successor a structural deficit; Sept. 11 now left New York $6 billion in the red. Bloomberg cut services, hiked property taxes, and negotiated concessions from municipal unions.

Billionaire Bloomberg began a streak of donations to nonprofit groups to compensate for what Mayor Bloomberg had slashed, saving organizations that help preserve the humanity of an oftenpunishing town. The money sustained food pantries, children’s theater and health initiatives.

It also bought loyalty. Nonprofits had been a thorn in Giuliani’s side. Now many owed Bloomberg their lives.

“Because of his enormous profile in philanthropy, it gave the perception that you had to be very careful in terms of taking positions in opposition to the mayor, particularly on economic issues like increasing worker rights and worker pay,” said David Jones, executive director of the Community Service Society, and a member of Bloomberg’s