Republican mayoral hopeful Michael Bloomberg took his first shot at one of his Democratic rivals yesterday – blasting Fernando Ferrer’s call for sweeping amnesty for illegal aliens as “grandstanding.”
“Citizenship is a federal-government issue, not a city issue,” said Bloomberg, who hadn’t criticized his opponents since he launched his City Hall bid two weeks ago.
“If you want to advocate [on federal matters], the appropriate thing is to call the congressman or senator, not grandstanding on some issue [you] have absolutely no control over,” said the billionaire media mogul – who didn’t mention Bronx Borough President Ferrer by name.
Ferrer last week made the pitch for blanket amnesty, describing the nation’s immigration policies to The Post as “a joke.”
Bloomberg said borough presidents and mayors should focus on local issues related to their offices, and “doing what you’re elected to do. God knows there are enough citywide problems.”
Ferrer spokesman John Del Cecato hit back, saying, “Looking out from his ivory tower, Michael Bloomberg has an obstructed view of the city he aspires to reign over . . . He just doesn’t understand New York.”
Bloomberg’s “failure to understand the issue betrays an insensitivity to the families in New York torn apart by our failure to legalize undocumented illegal immigrants,” Del Cecato said. “He also ignores the fact that city services are already used by both legal and illegal immigrants.”
Bloomberg also swiped yesterday at Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, suggesting she tried too hard to please too many different people during her historic campaign – including with revelations about her step-grandfather’s Jewish roots.
“What was he, a step-uncle twice removed? You’ve got to be what you are,” he said.
“All of the sudden, Hillary is a Yankees fan and her husband never inhaled,” joked Bloomberg, who in the past two weeks had spoken highly of Clinton’s campaign as a model for his own.
The billionaire stumped in Brooklyn, where he wore baseball cap of the minor-league Brooklyn Cyclones, and on Staten Island, where he wore a Staten Island Yankees hat.
During the Staten Island stop, he met privately with some supporters from the Independence Party, which has endorsed his mayoral bid.