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De Blasio And Liu Sworn Into Office, Call Out Bloomberg
By
Ben Muessig
Published Jan 2, 2010
Modified Jan 2, 2010
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By
Ben Muessig
Published Jan 2, 2010
Modified Jan 2, 2010
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On the same day that Mayor Bloomberg celebrated his inaugural, his biggest adversaries began their terms with some harsh words for his administration. Public Advocate Bill de Blasio and Comptroller John Liu — who both are apparently already being considered as Democratic candidates for Mayor in 2013 — took Bloomberg to task during their inauguration speeches, setting a strongly adversarial tone for the Mayor's third term.
Though he abridged his remarks due to the chilly weather, de Blasio still had time to scorn the Mayor for his policies on homelessness, public education, development, and "the disconnect between the people and City Hall," according to the Times. The former City Councilman and current city watchdog took a far more antagonistic approach than his predecessor, Betsy Gotbaum, who began her term by promising to "help" Mayor Bloomberg, who she referred to as "Mayor Mike," and not be his "adversary."
Comptroller John Liu also took shots at Bloomberg during his inaugural address. According to the Post, the former Queens Councilman slammed Bloomberg for "millions of dollars of no-bid contracts whose justifications are weak at best," and said he would examine past and present development deals for improprieties. But the son of Taiwanese immigrants had more to say about what it meant to become the first Asian-American elected to citywide office, according to the Times. In what he described as a nationwide "political maturation" that has taken place in recent years, Liu said that a history of "second-class citizenship" had been bucked by "groundbreaking milestones for a country built by immigrants." Liu — who along with his brothers Robert and Edward were named after the Kennedy boys — added: "I am humbled to part of that wave of change."
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bill de blasio
comptroller
inauguration
john liu
mayor bloomberg
public advocate
Ben Muessig
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