UPDATED 2/15 @ 10:45 A.M. — Billionaire Johnny-come-lately presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg is gearing up for some important primaries next month, with a candidate’s statement—at least in the Washington State Voter’s Pamphlet—that extolls his virtues but strangely downplays one important part of his story.
There is what could be described as a “passing reference” to Bloomberg’s activities as an anti-gun-rights advocate—some consider him an extremist—who largely bankrolled the most active gun prohibition lobbying group in the United States. Bloomberg’s statement appears on Page 10 of the pamphlet, published by the Secretary of State’s office in Olympia.
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UPDATE: The Daily Mail is reporting Bloomberg is considering Hillary Rodham Clinton for his running mate, should he get the nomination. According to the report, “Former New York City Mayor and Democratic candidate Bloomberg is said to be considering even changing his official residence from New York to Colorado or Florida – where he also has homes – because the electoral college makes it difficult for US president and vice-president to reside in the same state.”
The story appears have originated at the Drudge Report, quoting unnamed sources. The New York Post is also reporting the story, but refers back to a tweet from Drudge posted early Saturday.
https://twitter.com/DRUDGE/status/1228704614737821697?s=20
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The single reference in the Voter’s Pamphlet says this: “He has launched major coalitions to safe and improve lives, including America’s largest campaigns to prevent gun violence and fight the climate crisis, and he has championed efforts to fix our immigration system.” Four words before veering off into the environment and immigration. .
While CNN is reporting that Bloomberg “believes he is the one Democrats have been waiting for,” he must modestly think Evergreen State voters needn’t be reminded that in 2014, his Everytown for Gun Safety Action Fund for I-594 contributed $2.3 million to the gun control Initiative 594 campaign, and made an independent expenditure of $919,699.33 in two amounts of $490,378.16 and $429,321.17.
Bloomberg personally donated $285,000 to the effort, according to Public Disclosure Commission files.
I-594 was the so-called “universal background check” measure that was supposed to prevent guns from falling into the wrong hands. Less than two years after the initiative passed, Washington saw two multiple-victim shootings, in Mukilteo (three teens dead) and three months later in Burlington (five killed). One shooter bought a rifle and passed a background check. The other shooter took a rifle from his stepfather’s home, bypassing any background check.
In 2018, the Everytown for Gun Safety Action Fund contributed $450,000 cash and $59,500 “in kind” to the Initiative 1639 campaign. This measure prohibits young adults under age 21 from buying or owning a so-called “semiautomatic assault rifle” and invents a definition for such a gun that applies to every semi-auto rifle ever manufactured, regardless of caliber or cosmetics.
Bloomberg’s statement in the 2020 Voter’s Pamphlet says he is an entrepreneur, a former three-term New York City mayor and “pioneering leader on critical issues.” It talks about Bloomberg Philanthropies, says he has “given away $10 billion.” He tells readers he was “one of the youngest ever Eagle Scouts.”
His television commercials tout his work with former President Barack Obama on gun control efforts. But in his statement for the Voter’s Pamphlet Bloomberg seems surprisingly modest, nay reluctant, to talk about that.
This is the same man who, in 2014, told the New York Times, “I am telling you if there is a God, when I get to heaven I’m not stopping to be interviewed. I am heading straight in. I have earned my place in heaven. It’s not even close.”
Last year, the Everytown Action Fund spent a reported $2.5 million to shift elections in Virginia so Democrats could take control of the legislature and start passing restrictive gun control bills. He proved it is possible, at least in one state, to—as observed by Alan Gottlieb at the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms—“complete a leveraged buyout of the Second Amendment and our gun rights.”
Perhaps the Bloomberg team is cognizant of the fact that Washington is home to more than 647,000 citizens who are licensed to carry, including some who still vote Democrat for national office seekers. By some estimates, there are between 1.5 and 2 million gun owners in the state, who don’t like the erosion of their rights as represented by I-594 and I-1639. And they don’t care for elitist billionaires such as Bloomberg pouring small fortunes into supporting such efforts.
