The Two Faces Of Mike 3

from Wayne Barrett at the Village Voice

..The hypocrisy of Bloomberg's fusillade at Burress doesn't end there, though. Jim Dwyer has already pointed out in the Times that, though the mayor declared that Burress should do the full three-and-a-half-year sentence required under a gun possession law the mayor championed, ninety percent of the ordinary folks charged under that statute bargain it down and serve far less time. And what could be more hypocritical than the contrast of Bloomberg's Burress blasts and his announced intention to attend a party celebrating Staten Island's most famous DUI, Congressman Vito Fossella.
Bloomberg went so far as to taunt the press that criticized his Burress comments, declaring on his radio show: "Let the sports reporters who don't like this interview the parents of the 14-year-old kid," Mario Smith, who was shot by an illegal gun last week. Well, guess what, Mayor Mike, more than 2,000 kids each year, 14 and younger, die at the hands of a drunk driver. Maybe Bloomberg should talk to the parents of one of them.
On the eve of Fossella's sentencing in the DUI case, Bloomberg's spokesman explained that the mayor was attending his party because Fossella, who is still a power in Staten Island, "has been a supporter and ally." City Councilman Vincent Ignizio, the former GOP chair on the island, observed: "The mayor's doing the right thing by a friend, as well as obviously setting his sights on his re-election."
Fossella lost his House seat when it was revealed that he was arrested on his way to visiting a second family, including mistress and child, that he harbored in Virginia. When the bust was announced in May, Bloomberg said: "Thank God nobody was hurt and, you know, I'll let that go through the courts." The mayor said "hopefully he'll work this out." His comments on Burress -- who hurt no one but himself -- were a world apart. "You carry a loaded gun, you go the slammer for three and a half years," he declared, slamming the Giants and the hospital and everyone but the pigskin itself.