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Bloomberg irate over dead deal

Mayor blasts drive to kill Dubai contract, arguing focus should have been on getting funding for security

BY GLENN THRUSH | NEWSDAY WASHINGTON BUREAU

March 11, 2006

A raging Mayor Michael Bloomberg is lashing out at politicians who blocked the Dubai ports deal, calling the charge that the contract compromised homeland security "the cheapest political shot in the world."

Bloomberg, who kept a fairly low profile during the three-week fracas over the Dubai Ports World's contract to run six U.S. ports, also said Washington has endangered New Yorkers by scrimping on port security and Coast Guard funding. That charge drew an immediate rebuke from House Homeland Security chairman Peter King (R-Seaford) and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.).

Bloomberg has a business data company with 126 branches, including one in Dubai, but he does not make daily business decisions, per a ruling by the city's Conflict of Interest Board. He became agitated when a radio interviewer asked him how he felt about the campaign to kill the deal. That effort was led by Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), Clinton and King.

"What I don't like is all of a sudden it becomes the issue du jour and everybody's rushing up there waving the flag, beating their chests, saying, 'I'm trying to defend this country better than others,'" Bloomberg told John Gambling of WABC/770 AM Friday.

"Where the heck have these guys been?" he said. "The Coast Guard is an underfunded agency that we depend on to protect this country, and we didn't rush to give the Coast Guard more money after 9/11 and you didn't have to wait for 9/11."

Clinton, speaking to reporters in Albany about homeland security funding, shot back: "I would happily send the mayor a lot of transcripts of floor speeches and other legislative activity that I and Senator Schumer and members of the New York delegation ... have engaged in over the last four and a half years."

King, who led the House effort to kill the deal - and flew in Bloomberg's jet recently - also took issue with the mayor.

"I respectfully disagree with Mike," King said. "Port security funding has gone up about 700 percent since 2001. Coast Guard funding has gone up 70 percent in the last six years. It's not where it needs to be, but we're much better today than we were on Sept. 11."

Asked about the mayor's general comments, Schumer said, "I've talked to him three times this week. ... He didn't mention it once."

Bloomberg press secretary Stu Loeser said the mayor "wasn't referring to any individual. He was talking about how this [the Bush] administration and previous administrations as well as Congress for 20 years have underfunded port security."

Bloomberg ridiculed the notion that there's anything wrong with foreign companies operating U.S. cargo terminals.

"Everybody's rushing to say, 'Our ports,'" he said. "America has become a virtual nonentity [in shipping]. We don't run ports around the world. We don't run our own ports."