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Full-Page Ads Explain Pinocchio Bloomberg's Lies
By
Jaya Saxena
Published Feb 23, 2011
Modified Feb 23, 2011
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By
Jaya Saxena
Published Feb 23, 2011
Modified Feb 23, 2011
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Recently, Mayor Bloomberg has called for an end to a $12,000 "bonus" to current NYPD and FDNY retirees, which the unions aren't taking too well. So they're hitting the papers with a full-page ad explaining the "lies" Bloomberg is telling about the program, and showing him dressed as Pinocchio and riding a bike into a pothole. Huh, this looks familiar.
The PBA & UFA unions say that it is a lie that Bloomberg cares about firefighters and police officers, and that he is instead intent on "stealing hard-earned money...which they use to support their families." They also say the Variable Supplement Fund is not a "Christmas bonus," as Bloomberg put it, but rather a fund started in 1968 which the city hasn't contributed to since 1996, and that they earned the bonus "in contract negotiations by providing concessions and benefits to the city worth far more than $4 billion." PBA president Patrick J. Lynch said in a statement, “A lie is a lie no matter how many times you say it. Mayor Bloomberg has orchestrated an out and out assault on the livelihood and reputation of the very people who risk their lives to make this city safe and livable and we will not stand for it.”
The PBA writes that the ad will run in 31 community papers around the city, but mayoral spokesman Marc LaVorgna previously said that the elimination could save the city $200 million a year, and that, "We just can't afford to pay for it." Then where did Bloomberg get the money for those fancy pantaloons, eh?
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