Sen. Flake: Bloomberg ads wrong, 'I did vote' for background checks

Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) is pushing back against attack ads that say he broke his promise to support passing new gun laws.

"If you are anywhere close to a television set in Arizona in the coming days, you’ll likely see an ad about gun control financed by NYC Mayor Bloomberg," Flake wrote Friday on his Facebook page. "Contrary to the ad, I did vote to strengthen background checks."

Flake is responding to ads from Mayors Against Illegal Guns, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg's (I) group that supports tightening gun laws. Recent advertising by the group accuses Flake of breaking his promise to help pass expanded background checks.

Flake voted against an amendment co-sponsored by Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) that would have expanded background checks to include firearms purchases at gun shows and over the Internet. But Flake says he did not break his promise because he supported an alternate gun control proposal by Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Ted Cruz (R-Texas).

"I voted for the bipartisan Grassley amendment, which included language from a bill I helped write which strengthened background checks for those with mental illness," Flake continued. "The Grassley amendment also included language to increase prosecution of criminals and fugitives who circumvent the current background check system.

"Mayor Bloomberg can spend millions trying to get me to support his view of background checks. That’s his call. But we Arizonans aren’t easily bullied. The legislation that would have done the most to keep guns out of the hands of those who shouldn’t have them was the Grassley amendment. And that’s the amendment I supported."

Flake is one of a number of lawmakers Mayors Against Illegal Guns has targeted on guns. The group has also begun airing gun ads directed at Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.). On Thursday, Ayotte sent out a fundraising email to supporters with a statement similar to Flake's.

"Michael Bloomberg and his liberal allies think their $700,000 smear campaign will pressure me into changing my vote on the Manchin-Toomey gun control bill," Ayotte wrote in the email, according to CNN. "They couldn't be more wrong. As a mother, I am 100 percent dedicated to fighting gun violence. But I also have the experience to know that expanding an already broken background check system will not prevent a deranged individual or criminal from obtaining and misusing firearms."

In response, Mayors Against Illegal Guns stuck with its criticism.

"Sen. Flake is obfuscating his position by citing his vote for a decoy bill created by the Washington gun lobby (Grassley-Cruz) that would have actually weakened the background check system and made it easier for dangerous people to get guns," the group said in a statement.

—This story was updated at 4:52 p.m.

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Bloomberg: Tsarnaev brothers planned to detonate explosives in Times Square

Boston Marathon bombing suspects Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev planned to travel to New York City and detonate explosives in Times Square, FBI officials told New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg (I) and other city officials.

"Last night, we were informed by the FBI that the surviving attacker revealed that New York City was next on their list of targets," Bloomberg said on Thursday. "He told the FBI apparently that he and his brother had intended to drive to New York and detonate additional explosives in Times Square. They had built these additional explosives and we know they had the capacity to carry out the attacks."

Bloomberg shared the new information about the Tsarnaev brothers, who authorities say were behind the Boston Marathon bombings that resulted in three dead and hundreds injured, at a press conference. He was accompanied by New York Police Commissioner Ray Kelly.

The new information came from questioning of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who was arrested Friday after a manhunt. His older brother, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, was killed after a shootout with police. Kelly said that Dzhokhar Tsarnaev told investigators that he and Tamerlan Tsarnaev had initially decided after the Boston bombings that they would go to New York "to party" but, during later questioning, the younger of the two brother said they had "spontaneously" decided to drive to Times Square to detonate more explosives.

"They would drive to Times Square that same night," Kelly said.

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev told authorities that the plan fell apart because they quickly realized they needed more gas for the car they were in. That forced them to stop at a local gas station, allowing police officers to eventually catch up to them. The manhunt ended Friday night when Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was arrested while hiding out in Watertown, Mass. He is currently in a Boston hospital receiving treatment for injuries he suffered during the chase.

Kelly said there was no evidence to suggest that New York is currently in danger.

On Monday, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was charged with one count of conspiring to use a weapon of mass destruction on person and property in the United States and also charged with one count of attempting to use an improvised explosive device for malicious destruction of property. If convicted, he could face life in prison or the death penalty.

A U.S. law enforcement source and four officials briefed on his interrogation told The Associated Press that Dzhokhar Tsarnaev immediately stopped talking after he was given his Miranda warning.

Since the bombing, lawmakers have questioned what federal law enforcement agencies could have done to prevent the bombing, especially given that Tamerlan Tsarnaev was on a number of watch lists. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said Thursday that the Obama administration was ultimately to blame for not being able to stop the bombing.

"I have no idea who bears the blame. I just know the system is broken. The ultimate blame I think is with the administration," Graham said. "The FBI and the CIA are, they have great people, but you know we're going backwards in national security. Benghazi and Boston to me are examples of us going backward."

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Mike Bloomberg Gives Debunked Excuse For Opposing Paid Sick Leave Legislation

New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg (I) has promised to veto his city council’s final version of paid sick leave legislation, and is using flawed reasoning to defend his decision to do so.

Bloomberg claims that the legislation, which would provide five days of paid leave for employees of companies bigger than 15 people, would “hurt small businesses and stifle job creation… Supporters claim it will only take effect if the economy is healthy, but there is never a good time to make New York City less competitive. The bill is short-sighted economic policy that will take our city in the wrong direction, and I will veto it.”

It’s a good thing that the council has enough votes to override Bloomberg’s veto, because his reason for opposing the law doesn’t add up. Several studies have demonstrated that paid sick leave has no effect on job creation. In fact, a survey by Public Citizen found that when San Francisco enacted paid sick day legislation (a bill that required far more businesses to comply), it saw a jump in business expansion and employment growth (PDF):

But after implementation of the paid sick-leave law, San Francisco experienced an increase in employment. A study by the Drum Major Institute found that employment in San Francisco increased 3.5 percent between the start of 2006 and the start of 2010. In San Francisco’s five closest neighboring counties, employment fell 3.4 percent during the same period. The same study found that despite predictions to the contrary, the number businesses in San Francisco grew by 1.64 percent between 2006 and 2008 while falling by 0.61 percent in neighboring counties. San Francisco also experienced growth within both large and small businesses, and within the retail and food service industry during this period. (These industries expected to be affected most by the ordinance.)

The impact on businesses themselves was minor. A majority reported that understanding and implementing the ordinance was either “not difficult” or “not too difficult.” Additionally, while only 14 percent of businesses reported a negative impact on profits, more than 70 percent reported that the law had either no impact or a positive impact on their profitability. Productivity, and thus profitability, suffers when workers are forced to come to work when they are sick. One study on the impact of illness on productivity estimates that businesses lose twice as much money to workers who show up at work while sick than when workers stay home due to an illness.

Another study of Connecticut, done by the Center for American Progress, found much the same thing, noting that “full use of this leave would cost an employer only 0.4 percent of their sales revenue on average. Without paid sick days, employees come to work unhealthy, costing employers $160 billion per year due to lower productivity levels.”

There are myriad benefits to paid sick leave outside of workforce productivity; it helps families, is good for morale, and helps people recover from illness. Business efficiency can’t be the only end goal. But if Bloomberg is inspired by business interests alone, then he should still feel compelled to support the law. Three million Americans workers missed a day at their job because of illness in the month of February alone. It’s likely many did so without pay; 40 percent of private sector workers and 80 percent of low-income workers have no paid sick leave, and are likely to pick coming to work sick over missing a day of wages. That means they’re spreading illness to customers, getting more people sick, and being less efficient overall.

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Michael Bloomberg Pushes To Make New York City Cigarettes Cost At Least $10.50 Per Pack

During his tenure as New York City mayor, Michael Bloomberg (I) has had no qualms about cracking down on products that pose a public health risk, tackling everything from sugary sodas, to salt in snack foods, to illegal guns. Now, the three-term executive has his sights set on the tobacco industry, pushing legislation that would raise cigarette pack prices in the city to at least $10.50 and end tobacco companies’ ability to offer coupons or special discounts on their products.

The recently-announced initiative comes at the heels of another Bloomberg-endorsed plan to limit cigarette makers’ ability to publicly advertise their products in city store fronts. Combined, the two proposals would constitute something of a public health coup for Bloomberg, targeting smokers’ bad habit where it hurts the most: their wallets. And as the New York Times reports, the effort is targeted at teens and low-income Americans:

“This is kind of a landmark set of proposals here,” said Kurt Ribisl, a professor of public health at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, whose research on tobacco control influenced Mr. Bloomberg’s proposal. “For someone like me, who’s spent 18 years studying point-of-sale issues, this is kind of big.”

Dr. Ribisl studies what happens at the retail counter, where a customer at a typical convenience store sees a colorful array of signs, packaging and “shelf talkers” — the small tags that flutter from shelves — promoting two-for-one, dollar-off and other types of deals. According to a Federal Trade Commission report issued last year, the tobacco industry spent $6.5 billion on discounts in 2010, and Dr. Ribisl said they are one of the major ways cigarette makers encourage price-conscious customers like teenagers and low-income smokers to buy.

New York’s price-regulation bill would, in effect, close off the remaining means of access to cheap cigarettes and little cigars, which make it easier for teenagers to experiment with smoking, and progress to smoking regularly, said Brett Loomis, a researcher at RTI International, a nonprofit institute that offers research and technical services to governments and businesses.

Poor Americans are more likely to smoke, but less likely to be able to afford the habit and its associated health care costs. In fact, one study showed that low-income New York City smokers spend as much as a quarter of their income purchasing cigarettes — Bloomberg’s initiatives have the potential to price them out of the deadly habit altogether. While encouraging poor people to stop smoking is undoubtedly good from a public health standpoint, doing so through a commodity-based financial regulation has the potential to further drain their disposable incomes.

And Bloomberg’s legislative push won’t address all aspects of the problem. As cigarette prices rise nationwide and smoking rates plummet in the aggregate, studies have shown that low-income Americans — particularly, low-income women — are still smoking at higher rates than average, and turning to less costly alternatives such as loose leaf tobacco to get their fix on the cheap. Raising cigarette prices even further could propagate even more of that kind of behavior.

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NRA chief LaPierre: Bloomberg ‘can’t buy America’ with ad blitz

The head of the National Rifle Association (NRA) slammed New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg (I) on Sunday, accusing him of trying to “buy America” by spending $12 million on a massive advertising campaign advocating for stricter gun laws.

“He's going to find out this is a country of the people, by the people, and for the people,” said NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre in an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “And he can't spend enough of his $27 billion to try to impose his will on the American public.

“They don't want him telling them what food to eat; they sure don't want him telling them what self-defense firearms to own. And he can't buy America. He's so reckless in terms of his comments on this whole gun issue.”

Bloomberg this weekend announced a massive advertising campaign aimed at drumming up support during the congressional recess for tighter gun restrictions in the states of 13 key senators, who will face a vote on several gun control measures when they return next month.

Bloomberg, a billionaire and co-chairman of the Mayors Against Illegal Guns group, said on Sunday that it’s his responsibility to provide advocates for stricter gun control with a national voice that counteracts the NRA’s messaging and influential lobbying efforts.

“I think I have a responsibility, and I think you and all of your viewers have responsibilities, to try to make this country safer for our families and for each other,” said Bloomberg on “Meet the Press.”

“And if I can do that by spending some money and taking the NRA from being the only voice to being one of the voices, so the public can really understand the issues, then I think my money would be well spent, and I think I have an obligation to do that.”

The ad campaign, much of which Bloomberg has personally funded, will encourage people to call their senators and pressure them to vote in favor of tougher gun laws, according to the mayor.

The ads will target Republican Sens. Jeff Flake (Ariz.), Saxby Chambliss (Ga.), Johnny Isakson (Ga.), Dan Coats (Ind.), Chuck Grassley (Iowa), Susan Collins (Maine), Kelly Ayotte (N.H.), Dean Heller (Nev.), Rob Portman (Ohio), and Pat Toomey (Pa.). It will also target Democratic Sens. Mark Pryor (Ark.), Joe Donnelly (Ind.), Mary Landrieu (La.), Kay Hagan (N.C.), and Heidi Heitkamp (N.D.). 

Earlier this week, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) pledged to hold a vote on gun legislation when the Senate returns from its Easter recess.

Reid said the bill would include three provisions that have been reported by the Senate Judiciary Committee: a measure requiring background checks of nearly every gun sale, including most private purchases; a measure that would provide $40 million in grants to schools for security upgrades; and a measure increasing penalties for people who purchase guns on behalf of people barred from buying them.

The background check bill that is currently scheduled for the Senate to vote on is sponsored by Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and was reported by Democrats along party lines. The measure would require background checks for all private gun sales, except those between immediate family members.

Republicans say that gun sales between friends should also be exempt. They also object to a requirement for the seller to keep a record of the purchase.

On Sunday, LaPierre argued that a move towards requiring background checks for most private sales would be useless because the federal government does not prosecute many of the people who fail to pass their background checks and some states do not submit complete mental health and criminal history records into the national database.

“The whole thing, universal checks, is a dishonest premise,” said LaPierre. “There's not a bill on the Hill that provides a universal check. Criminals aren't going to be checked.”

“It's not accurate, it's not instant,” said LaPierre of the National Instant Criminal Background Checks System (NICS). “The mental health records are not in the system, and they don't prosecute any of the criminals that they catch. It's a speed bump for the law abiding. It slows down the law abiding and does nothing to anybody else.”

Reid said he hoped that ongoing talks between Republicans and Democrats attempting to agree on a bipartisan version of a background check bill would progress over the break. The Democratic leader said he would be open to replacing the Schumer bill with a new bipartisan measure if they reached a consensus.

A vote on amendments banning assault weapons, high-capacity magazines, and new mental health provisions is also expected, according to Reid.

The House has not moved on any major gun legislation this year and has put the onus on the upper chamber to act first. The assault weapons ban is not expected to pass Congress because of Republican opposition to the measure.

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Bloomberg on assault weapons ban: ‘We’re going to get the vote’

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg (I) pledged that supporters of an assault-weapons ban would get a vote in Congress.

“We've been fighting since 2007 to get a vote. We are going to have a vote for sure on assault weapons and we're going to have a vote on background checks,” said the prominent gun-control advocate in an interview aired Sunday on NBC’s "Meet the Press."

“If we were to get background checks only, it wouldn't be as good as if we got both, but look, we demanded a plan and then we demanded a vote. We've got the plan, we're going to get the vote,” he said.

Bloomberg’s comments come after Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) announced earlier this week that the Senate would vote on a gun control bill after returning from Easter recess. Reid, though, decided not to include a measure for a federal assault weapons ban, a key provision backed by the White House and Bloomberg.

Reid said Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s (D-Calif.) proposal could have hampered passage of other gun control measures. Efforts to heighten restrictions on gun ownership face an uphill struggle, with strong opposition from GOP lawmakers and the nation’s gun lobby.

Bloomberg will also personally fund a $12 million national campaign to target swing state senators to back gun control. The ads are slated to run in 13 states over the Easter recess. But the Bloomberg ads will press for background check legislation, which gun reform advocates believe has the best chance of becoming law, making no mention of assault weapons.

Bloomberg defended his efforts on gun control Sunday, saying that he had a "responsibility" as a public official to push for safer gun laws.

"I think I have a responsibility, and I think you and all of your viewers have responsibilities, to try to make this country safer for our families and for each other," he said. "And if I can do that by spending some money and taking the NRA from being the only voice to being one of the voices, so the public can really understand the issues, then I think my money would be well spent, and I think I have an obligation to do that."

Bloomberg's move though attracted a sharp rebuke from National Rifle Association (NRA) Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre. 

LaPierre who also appeared on NBC said Bloomberg would realize he "can't buy America."

"He can't spend enough of his $27 billion to try to impose his will on the American public. They don't want him in their restaurants, they don't want him in their homes. They don't want him telling them what food to eat; they sure don't want him telling them what self-defense firearms to own," said LaPierre.

Bloomberg met on Thursday with Vice President Joe Biden to discuss gun control efforts, and at a joint press conference warned that voters would watch Congress closely and expect action on gun control after last December’s traffic mass shooting at an elementary school in Connecticut.

“I don't think there's ever been an issue where the public has spoken so clearly, where Congress hasn't eventually understood and done the right thing,” said Bloomberg on Sunday.

“If 90% of the public want something, and their representatives vote against that, common sense says, they are going to have a price to pay for that. The public is going to eventually wake up and say, ‘I want to put in office somebody that will do the things that I think are necessary for this country,’” he added.

Gun-control advocates believe that legislation to mandate checks on all firearm purchasers has the best chance of passing Congress this session, with an assault weapons ban facing a much tougher fight.

President Obama, though, has made calls for an assault weapons ban a key element of his proposals to stem gun violence. In his weekly address he again urged lawmakers to vote on a series of gun measures including bans on the sale of military-style assault weapons and high-capacity clips.

“These ideas shouldn’t be controversial — they’re common sense,” Obama said. “They’re supported by a majority of the American people. And I urge the Senate and the House to give each of them a vote.”  

This story was published at 7:35 a.m. and has been updated.

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Bloomberg Warns: ‘Price To Pay’ For Lawmakers Who Ignore Popular Opinion And Oppose Background Checks

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg appeared on Meet the Press on Sunday and warned lawmakers in Washington that there would be a political price to pay if they vote against popular gun regulation proposals like universal background checks and a new assault weapons ban:

GREGORY: You made it very clear this week you’re paying attention to the vote in the Senate, in Congress, and you’re taking names. Will you target people, Republicans and Democrats, who do not support a weapons ban, an assault weapons ban, who do not vote for background checks — will you spend money, lots of money, to target them in 2014, in a midterm race?

BLOOMBERG: Well let me phrase it this way. I think I have a responsibility, and I think you and all of your viewers have responsibilities, to try and make this country safer for our families and for each other. And if I can do that by spending some money and taking the NRA from being the only voice to being one of the voices, so the public can really understand the issues, then I think my money would be well spent and I think I have an obligation to do that…If 90 percent of the public wants something and their representatives vote against that, common sense says they are going to have a price to pay for that.

Yesterday, the New York Times reported that Bloomberg has plans to spend $12 million to finance ads from his pro-gun regulation group Mayors Against Illegal Guns in 13 key states whose senators are thought to be on the fence over new legislation on an assault weapons ban and universal background checks.

The ads will begin airing this week, Bloomberg told Gregory, and will crescendo over the Easter break when most legislators host events back in their home districts.

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Bloomberg launches $12M ad blitz to pressure senators on gun control

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg (I) is bankrolling a $12 million ad buy which will target swing state senators ahead of next month’s votes on gun control.

His group, Mayors Against Illegal Guns, unveiled a new ad Saturday which they hope will rally support for universal background checks.

In one ad, titled “Responsible,” a man holding a shotgun says he “believes in the Second Amendment, and I’ll fight to protect it.”

“But with rights come responsibilities, that’s why I support comprehensive background checks so criminals and the dangerously mentally ill can’t buy guns,” he continues. “That protects my rights and my family.”

The ad closes by encouraging viewers to urge lawmakers to endorse comprehensive background checks for firearm purchasers.

In a second add, the same actor says “background checks have nothing to do with taking a gun away from anyone.”

The ads will air in 13 states, including Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Indiana, Louisiana, Maine, New Hampshire, Nevada, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, CNN reports.

The ad campaign begins Tuesday and will run over the two-week congressional Easter recess.

Bloomberg tweeted out his support for the new campaign late Saturday, writing “We demanded a plan and we got one. We demanded a vote and we'll get one. Now we're doing all we can to pass a bill that will save lives.”

The ads come as the Senate readies to consider a gun-control package in April. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said the package would include measures for stronger background checks, tougher penalties against straw purchasers and more grants for schools to upgrade security. 

The Bloomberg ads make no mention of banning the sale of assault weapons or high-capacity magazines.

Reid said last week that an assault weapons provision would not be part of the gun package voted on in the Senate, a win for the National Rifle Association which has opposed the measure. 

But proponents are pushing for a vote as an amendment. Reid cautioned that including the assault weapons provision could drag down the entire gun control bill in the face of heated opposition.

Bloomberg on Sunday said that supporters were “going to get the vote.”

We've been fighting since 2007 to get a vote. We are going to have a vote for sure on assault weapons and we're going to have a vote on background checks,” he said in an interview for NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

Gun reform advocates believe background checks have the strongest support and the best chance of passing Congress this session. An assault weapons bill though is unlikely to pass the GOP House.

The background check bill slated for a Senate floor vote was drafted by Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and would require checks for all private gun sales. Efforts at a bipartisan bill stalled over GOP concerns that the measure could lead to a national database of firearm owners.

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