After doing everything he possibly could to land the Republican National Convention, Mayor Bloomberg almost didn’t deliver the opening-day speech after a senior GOP operative demanded he drop two lines referring to homeland-security funding, sources said yesterday.
“The Bush camp got a copy of the mayor’s speech and they didn’t like the homeland-security reference,” said one source.
The source said Bloomberg was informed he would have to strike out the line, “Homeland-security funds should be allocated by threat and no other reason.”
But City Hall wouldn’t budge and follow the script at the tightly controlled convention.
“You have extra time in your program because the mayor’s not going to speak,” the Republican operative was told, according to the source. “He’s either giving the speech his way or not at all.”
The standoff went on for about an hour. But calmer heads prevailed and the mayor went on as scheduled Aug. 30 with welcoming remarks that included the pitch for extra homeland-security funds:
“And I will repeat this message to my fellow Republicans, Democrats and independents as many times as it takes to keep New York safe and secure,” Bloomberg said at Madison Square Garden.
The line didn’t draw applause. But the next one, lauding the nation for coming to the city’s aid after 9/11, did. So did the ones where the mayor praised President Bush.
“The president deserves our support,” Bloomberg said.
“We are here to support him. And I am here to support him.”
The mayor helped raise more than $80 million to bring the GOP convention to New York for the first time in history.
That, including $8 million donated from the mayor’s own pockets.