New York City – General Colin Powell today endorsed Mayor Mike Bloomberg’s re-election bid during a taping of Larry King Live that is scheduled to air tonight at 9PM. General Powell was the first African American appointed to serve as the 65th United States Secretary of State. He is also an American statesman and a retired four-star general in the United States Army.
Subscribe to our Daily Roundup Email
Below is the transcript of what was said during his interview when asked about the New York City Mayor’s race.
KING: So you leave New York, but New York never leaves you. Therefore, do you have a thought about the Mayor’s race?
POWELL: Of course, yes. I think that Mike Bloomberg has done a tremendous job in his eight years as the Mayor. In 2005, when he was running for his second term, I was asked about this and I said, I am a Virginian now, but if I lived in New York, I would vote for Mike Bloomberg.
Well, he has managed now to run for a third term, and I feel even more strongly about it. I think he is a great candidate. I think what he has done for education, what he has done to manage the economic problems New York is having, what he has done for safety, what he has done for tourism, he is an independent guy who is always trying to solve problems.
And he is working for the whole city. So I think Mike Bloomberg should be given a third term. And yes, I would say, reelect Mike Bloomberg.
“I am thrilled to have the endorsement of a distinguished New Yorker like Colin Powell,” said Mayor Mike Bloomberg. “His is the kind of nonpartisan leadership that I have always worked hard to emulate.”
I respect Collin Powel, should he run for President I think he’ll win.
Who asked you? We don’t care what you think we new yorkers want change
Mr. Colin Powell, until you live here and have had to suffer the ridiculously high fees and penalties Mr. Bloomberg added to ordinary parking and traffic tickets, and until you’ve had your property taxes raised an exhorbitant 18.5% in one stroke (which Bloomberg did in 2002), I’ll ask you to keep your enthusiasm for Mr. Bloomberg to yourself. We who live here have suffered under Mr. Bloomberg’s yoke for a long time and we resent outsiders telling us who to vote for….we even resent insiders telling us who to vote for.