| Jan. 25, 2019 - Former New York
City Michael Bloomberg wrapped up the Conference's 87th Winter Meeting
with a speech at the closing lunch plenary. Bloomberg, who served
as three terms as NYC Mayor from Jan. 2002-Dec. 2013, is a possible
2020 candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination.
Bloomberg started
with some remarks on the shutdown. "This is about competence and
the lack
of it that we are seeing in the White House," he stated. "The
government
shutdown is
a complete failure of executive leadership, and it's one of the worst
cases of incompetent management I have ever seen." Bloomberg
observed that, "For five weeks President Trump has
forced
all debate in Washington to focus on a wall we don't need instead of
the real challenges that are crying out for attention, and that all of
you are working on, day and night." Bloomberg devoted much of his
speech to his efforts to fight gun violence, discussing the work of his
group Every Town for Gun Safety, which is "serving as the counterweight
to the NRA." He said that Every Town's legal team is ready
to help mayors defend local gun laws in court. Reflecting on the
progress that is being made, Bloomberg said, "When we started, other
mayors and I would come
to
DC for meetings, lawmakers would have hear us out, they'd nod their
heads, and then they'd give us a cold shoulder. But now members
of
Congress want to talk about gun safety, and the House wasted no time in
introducing a background check bill after the last election, and
after they were put in office." transcript
|
