New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is pushing Democratic donors in New York City to cut off donations to the four Democrats who voted against background checks when the measure came up in the Senate.
The New York Times reports that Bloomberg is planning to send a letter on Wednesday to top donors, urging them against supporting the four senators - Mark Pryor, of Arkansas, Max Baucus of Montana, Mark Begich of Alaska and Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota - who have collectively raised over $2.2 million from New York.
From the Times:
By appealing to the Democrats’ financial base, Mr. Bloomberg is exploiting his relationships and prestige among wealthy New Yorkers to disrupt the flow of campaign money to key Democrats whose re-election next year will help determine whether the party retains control of the Senate. No state is more essential to the party’s fund-raising: Sitting Democratic senators and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee raised $30.4 million from New York donors in 2012, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, more than in any other state.
“If they come and ask for the money, you say to them, ‘What do you stand for?’ ” Bloomberg said. “I want to tell people what these four stand for. And then people can make up their own minds.”
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