Dylan Brogan
News-Bloomberg-02-09-2020
Actor Michael Douglas at the opening of the Bloomberg campaign office in Madison.
Two-time Academy Award winner actor Michael Douglas was the only speaker at the opening of Mike Bloomberg’s presidential campaign office in downtown Madison on Feb. 8. The day before Douglas had buried his father, Kirk Douglas, the legendary actor. He shared with the Wisconsin crowd some of his father’s “last words” in the hospital.
“Mike [Bloomberg] can get it done,” the elder Douglas told his son.
“[Bloomberg] has a proven record,” Michael Douglas told the Madison crowd. “He has done more as a private citizen and as a mayor than most any congressman or senator [or] elected official. This is a great, great guy. This is a rare, rare moment. I haven’t felt like this since John Kennedy.”
Bloomberg, a billionaire and former New York City mayor, only recently entered the 2020 race, in late November. But he is making the pitch that he is the Democratic candidate best suited to take on Donald Trump in November and he is spending lavishly to make that happen.
In December, the candidate himself was at the opening of his first Wisconsin campaign office in Milwaukee. Jorna Taylor, the state director of Bloomberg’s Wisconsin campaign, says offices will also be opening in La Crosse and Appleton ahead of the Wisconsin presidential primary on April 7.
“We don’t think that’s going to be the end of it.... We are going to be a statewide campaign to beat Donald Trump from day one landing in this state,” Taylor said to reporters at the Madison event. “We know we are going to have the strongest field operation and team in the state of Wisconsin.”
This is in addition to the $4 million, and counting, spent on TV ads that have blanketed the airwaves in Wisconsin since Bloomberg announced his bid for president. The Daily Beast also reported Feb. 7 that the campaign is paying $150 a post to Instagram influencers who deliver a positive message about Bloomberg on the social media platform. Bloomberg has said he’s open to spending $1 billion dollars of his own money in his bid to become president. At the campaign event in Madison, boxes of “I Like Mike” T-shirts were handed out to the crowd free of charge.
Taylor says there is a lane for Bloomberg, who is running as centrist, to be the 2020 nominee for the Democrats.
“Voters are still making up their mind in this race and I think that’s really been demonstrated with the results coming out of Iowa,” said Taylor. “This race is wide open.”
Taylor says 60 campaign staffers have already been hired in Wisconsin, widely seen as a battleground ground state in the 2020 presidential race. The New York Times reported on Feb. 4 that Bloomberg is building an army of organizers nationwide that now totals more than 2,000. The billionaire, who isn’t accepting donations and has pledged to self-finance his campaign with his vast fortune totaling over $50 billion, is recruiting staff with unheard of compensation for campaign staffers, especially for entry- and mid-level positions.
Isthmus spoke to one recently hired Bloomberg campaign staffer who asked to remain anonymous so as not to “lose the best job I’ve ever had.”
“I didn’t come into this as the biggest Bloomberg fan, he is growing on me. I’m not saying I’m not bought and paid for,” says the anonymous staffer. “He’s a billionaire. What he spends on this race he’s not going to miss. I’m a big supporter of his jobs plan for me.”
Isthmus confirmed salary details with online job postings for the Bloomberg campaign in other states, as well as with a source who was offered a regional director job in Wisconsin but ultimately turned it down. Field organizers, who are organizing canvasses and tabling events, are being paid $6,000 a month. More senior level positions like communication managers and office directors are receiving salaries closer to $10,000 a month.
Former leadership for the Democratic Party of Wisconsin is also jumping on the Bloomberg boat. Brandon Weathersby, former communications director for the state party, is Bloomberg’s press secretary for Wisconsin. Mike Tate, former state chair for the Dems, confirms he’s a senior advisor for the campaign.
Isthmus spoke with six people, all with experience working for campaigns in Wisconsin, who affirm that Bloomberg is paying staffers well above market rate and having a noticeable effect on the state campaigns of other presidential candidates, as well as races down the ballot; this is especially true in Milwaukee, which has competitive races for mayor and county executive the same day as the presidential primary on April 7.
One veteran campaign staffer, on condition of anonymity, told Isthmus Bloomberg is paying “top dollar.” Another put it like this: “[Bloomberg] is paying a shit ton. Enough to make people forget he’s a former Republican.”
Heather Colburn, the state director for Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign in Wisconsin, isn’t working for the Bloomberg campaign in 2020. But she estimates the former New York City mayor is paying $2,000-$2,500 more a month for entry level staffers, an amount that just can’t be matched by other candidates.
In addition to above-market pay, campaign staffers are also being given iPhone 11s and Apple laptops that they get to keep if they work on the campaign through November. Promises that these well paying jobs will last through the entire election helped sell the gig to the anonymous staffer Isthmus spoke with.
“I’m going to get paid whether [Bloomberg] is the nominee or not. We have all been promised our jobs will continue through November whoever the Democratic nominee ends up being,” says the staffer. “I’ve never had a job where they tell you, ‘Your brand new iPhone is on the way.’ It's insane.”
Bloomberg’s conspicuous use of his wealth drew at least one protester to the opening of the Madison office.
“Mike Bloomberg is an oligarch trying to buy the Democratic Party. He’s Donald Trump’s golf buddy,” the protester yelled to the crowd. “He supported George W. Bush and the Iraq War.”
The protester continued his speech for a few minutes but was drowned out by boos from the crowd. People chanted “buh-bye” as a Bloomberg staffer showed the young man the door.
Michael Douglas, who arrived well after the protester was booted, acknowledged his candidate wasn’t always a Democrat. Bloomberg was elected mayor of New York twice as a Republican and once as an independent.
“Yes, granted, at one time he was a Republican. But the Republican Party stood for something that it doesn’t now. He was [also an] independent. And now he’s a stone cold Democrat,” said Douglas. “In my lifetime, I really can’t think of a better candidate for the president of the United States than Mike Bloomberg.”
Bloomberg wasn’t on the ballot in Iowa, nor will he be competing in New Hampshire, Nevada or South Carolina — which have primaries and caucuses in February. While other presidential candidates compete for momentum in these early prizes, Bloomberg is betting on a good showing in the 14 contests on March 3, Super Tuesday, and in subsequent primaries in states like Wisconsin.
Paul Dekker from Lodi sees Bloomberg’s appeal. He attended the Madison event with his son, also named Paul.
“I think Mike is realistic. I think by bypassing the early primaries, he’s able to bypass some of the ridiculous policies of the left, too,” said Dekker. “Things like Medicare for All sound nice but common sense tells me that whoever runs on that platform won’t be able to succeed.”
The younger Paul acknowledges that younger voters might not see the appeal of the Bloomberg candidacy.
“A lot of my buddies are all over the Bernie craze and [Bloomberg] right now just isn’t exciting,” says Paul. But, he adds, “If you don’t like Trump, I think Bloomberg is the best person to get him outta office.”
