In case it was unclear that Gov. John Hickenlooper and Colorado’s de facto Governor, Michael Bloomberg, were close, let this audio from a media interview between a Bloomberg reporter and Hick erase all doubt. Complete Colorado‘s Todd Shepherd cleverly CORA’d all of Hick’s media interviews that former spokesperson Eric Brown not-so-cleverly recorded. Ouch. Listen here:
From Complete Colorado:
“Actually, watching what Michael Bloomberg did for New York, as Mayor, it made me love Bloomberg News in a way nothing else really could. When DeBlasio took over, and basically (unintelligible) people trashed Mayor Bloomberg, I got a whole, long…fawning letter up to Bloomberg just saying how outrageous it was. And then just reciting what I thought he’d be remembered for, and every big city mayor that I know, thinks that he’ll go down as one of the greatest mayors, not just in New York, but in the history of the United States.”
Aside from the fact that Hick claims that Bloomberg is not pulling the strings in Colorado when it’s clear that he is, his fawning to a Bloomberg reporter is just awkward, as you can hear on the audio when the reporter responds to his fawning with repeated and noncommital “uh-huhs”. Mike Bloomberg has almost nothing to do with the everyday operations of Bloomberg News. It would be like a Patriots fan talking about how much they love Gillette razors, the sponsor of the Pats’ stadium.
What’s interesting is that Hick seems to view Bloomberg, the former mayor of New York, as a model governor. Let’s take a stroll through some of Bloomberg’s nanny state legacy, taken from Gizmodo, which has the complete list:
- No smoking in restaurants, bars, and public places (that includes e-cigarettes)
- No cigarette sales to those under the age of 21
- No cars in Times Square or in bike lanes (because Manhattan has so much available real estate)
- Restrictions on levels of sodium in processed foods
- No trans-fats in restaurant cooking
- No Big Gulps
- No styrofoam packaging in single-service food items
- No loud headphones
- Latch on NYC: Formula is locked up and tracked for new mothers to encourage breastfeeding
If Hickenlooper views Bloomberg as one of the best mayors ever, what can we expect next from the embattled Governor? As if the gun grab wasn’t bad enough, is Hick looking for a new nanny state legacy for himself?