Kevin Sheekey

At a press conference earlier today Andrew Siff of NBC asked Michael Bloomberg, “If you’re not a candidate, how do you justify Kevin Sheekey’s salary?”

“Kevin Sheekey gets paid, I think, the same as all deputy mayors," Bloomberg said. "He works as hard for this city as anybody I know, a lot more hours than anybody has a right to expect. He’s literally one of these 24-7 guys. In his spare time, Kevin Sheekey does have an interest in politics. I don’t think there is any question about that."

More after the jump.  read more »

Kevin Sheekey was walking through the Sheraton Hotel, holding The New York Times and a cellphone he was ignoring.

“I was on the phone talking with Colin Powell last week and he said, ‘You’re tougher to reach than the mayor is,’ and I said, ‘Yeah, I kind of like it that way,’” he said.

Mr. Sheekey, 41, is Michael Bloomberg’s closest political aide, and the architect of the mayor’s unannounced-but-still-possible independent presidential campaign.

People have noticed his work.  read more »

Kevin Sheekey, the architect of the Michael-Bloomberg-for-President story, told me earlier that I was "obsessed" with the Michael Bloomberg-for-President story. Which isn't wrong, but still -- it's saying something.

When someone pointed out that such a term could be applied to him, Sheekey said, deadpan, that he's really much more focused on city government.

Later, I asked Deputy Mayor Ed Skyler about Sheekey's suggestion that Skyler may get into the movie business after leaving City Hall.  read more »

Michael Bloomberg’s office just announced he’s going west to see Arnold Schwarzenegger, who's also a fan of Kevin Sheekey (though the governor never managed to hire the Bloomberg aide).

The two will appear together in Los Angeles on January 19.  read more »

Michael Bloomberg adviser Kevin Sheekey is escalating his FaceBook-page cheerleading for a Bloomberg presidential run.

Here's some recent activity:

December 2
Kevin joined the group Draft Bloomberg! 9:05pm

Kevin joined the group Michael R. Bloomberg for Pres. of U.S.A. 9:04pm

Kevin became a fan of Draft Mike Bloomberg. 8:59pm

This is turning into a bit of a routine. Sheekey puts the ball in motion, Bloomberg denies he's planning a presidential bid, and reporters... Never mind.

If there was an award for loudest cheerleader encouraging Michael Bloomberg to run for president, it would unquestionably go to Kevin Sheekey, one of his political advisers, who keeps finding both big and small ways to suggest that the mayor will enter the race.

The latest: a subtle change to Sheekey’s profile on Facebook.

A reader who Sheekey 'friended" on Facebook pointed out that Sheekey recently left the “New York” network and joined the one for “Washington D.C.” Technically, Sheekey hasn’t worked in the capitol since his days with Pat Moynihan.

The changes he made to his profile after the jump.

 read more »

Doug Schoen, the noted pollster who crunched numbers for Bill Clinton’s re-election campaign in the mid 1990's, and for Michael Bloomberg’s 2001 mayoral race, said last night that he doesn’t think Bloomberg will run for president.

Schoen, speaking at a forum about presidential polling at Baruch College, was answering a question from an audience member who wanted to know which of the two major parties would be most affected by a Bloomberg presidential run.

“Let me just say at the outset I don’t think he is going to run,” Schoen said. “Largely Phil’s question is an academic one. It was very interesting to me that at this point, he appears to be hurting the Republicans at least as much if not more than the Democrats. I think the reason for that has more to do with disaffected Republicans who probably don’t want to vote, at this point, for Hillary Clinton--who hear, you know, Independent Michael Bloomberg, don’t know much about who Michael Bloomberg is, and are saying, ‘You know what, we don’t want to vote Republican, and this is an alternative.”

More after the jump.  read more »

Here's a clip of Sheekey speaking at a Citizens Union event about how Michael Bloomberg was able to change city government in large part due to being a self-funded candidate.

So how much weight should be put into Michael Bloomberg’s denials about running for president?

According to Bloomberg’s chief political strategist, Deputy Mayor Kevin Sheekey, not much.

In an interview with City Hall News, Sheekey said that Barack Obama made the same denials, and it hasn’t hurt his campaign.

"The thing about running for president is it makes sense if it makes sense. If there’s a reason for you to run, and there’s a constituency that’s calling for you, and you have real ideas, then people will support you. And if not, they won’t. I have not heard anyone in six months run around talking about Barack Obama saying, 'He swore he wasn’t going to run.' ’Cause no one cares. They care about what he’s going to do for the country."

Sheekey also dismissed the idea of running for office himself. "Yeah, but for what?  I’m gonna run for Gale Brewer’s job?"

Just as new poll numbers revive speculation that Michael Bloomberg could successfully run for governor of New York in 2010, someone who wants to see Bloomberg run for another, higher office emailed this photo to fellow supporters.

It shows Bloomberg, top advisor Kevin Sheekey and the mayor's girlfriend Diana Taylor meeting Karin Gallet, an organizer in the movement to draft Bloomberg into the presidential race. The meeting took place after Bloomberg's public interview with Tom Brokaw at Cooper Union late last month.

While Bloomberg has talked down his interest in that race, he has demonstrated a willingness at least to be photographed for the cause.

Now that Michael Bloomberg is officially a major factor in the 2008 presidential election, it's worth asking when exactly did the mayor inject himself into that race?

I think that when the history of the race is written, people will say the Bloomberg presidential campaign started immediately after the mayor’s 2005 re-election, when the his political guru, Kevin Sheekey, went onto New York 1 News for what they thought would be some post-election analysis.

“The only question was how big a Bloomberg blow out it would be,” NY1news anchor Dominic Carter recalled.

First, Sheekey addressed the Democratic candidate, Freddy Ferrer. “He came right out and said he expected much more of a fierce battle from them," Carter said. "Then, totally unprovoked, he starts with the Bloomberg for president--‘don’t you think it’ll be a good idea Dominic?’

“He just went on for a minute and a half about 'Bloomberg For President.'”

“So it means they had already given thought to this before the race for mayor was over. That’s what it clearly said to me.”

Take note Kevin Sheekey. Mike Bloomberg isn't the only independent businessman looking to run for president. Daniel Imperato, a businessman and self-described "man of the globe" will be speaking to the Manhattan Libertarian Party (at 140 2nd Avenue around 7:30 p.m.) about his presidential bid.

"Being a man of the globe, and understanding the people, I felt that I should at least consider helping the United States and the world make a change by possibly throwing my hat into the ring for the White House in 2008."

-- Azi Paybarah

Attention Mike Bloomberg and Kevin Sheekey: James Carville says there is a "real, real" chance for a third-party movement in the 2008 election.

A conservative GOP Iowa operative working for George Pataki's PAC has quit.

Bill Hammond said that despite the political context swirling around Alan Hevesi, "it's hard to argue with the story that chart" in his most recent audit.

In a recent CNN poll, former Senator John Edwards was the first second-choice among Democrats for the party's nomination.

Greg Sargent feels that John McCain gets the benefit of the doubt from reporters who should "know better."

The Bull Moose blogger is now Joe Lieberman's spokesman.

Nancy Pelosi closes (and locks) the door on the talk about reinstating the draft that was being advanced by Charlie Rangel.

New York's local judicial system may get a major overhaul.

And above is the festive cover of The Nation, which has a distinctly Observer-y feel.  read more »

-- Azi Paybarah

Pictured here is Mickey Carroll, the Quinnipiac pollster who has a survey about Mike Bloomberg's presidential bid, and Kevin Sheekey, the deputy mayor who helps keep the rumor of that bid alive.

Carroll said he told Sheekey that if Bloomberg wants to run, he has to "put together an organization in fifty states. [And] you got to protect yourself against the thieves."

As for the mayor's intentions of actually running, Carroll said "If he didn't like the idea, he'd tell Kevin to knock it off."  read more »

Here's some more on Bloomberg 2008, according to Carroll.

Update: Sheekey predicted Bloomberg would win with 40%. -- Azi Paybarah

Kevin Sheekey keeps pitching the 'Bloomberg for President' storyline, and the mayor keeps traveling outside of New York.

Jeanine Pirro stays married to her politically-damaging husband because he pays her $15,000 a month.

The feds have subpoenaed Pirro's financial records and are looking to see whether she paid Bernie Kerik to spy on her husband.

Pirro said she only wanted photos to prove her husband was cheating.

The feds are also investigating Bronx Democratic County leader Jose Rivera and some real estate deals in that borough.

Eliot Spitzer has muzzled his lieutenant governor and stopped him from debating the G.O.P. lieutenant governor candidate.

Not everything will be changing on Day 1 of a Spitzer administration, now that an Albany insider is poised to be the new senate minority leader.

Charter schools, legislative pay raises, and the state's horse racing franchise are among the issues George Pataki may tackle in his last 100 days as governor.

Rep. Charlie Rangel pays four aides more than $150,000 each.

And MoveOn.org opened an office in Brooklyn.

-- Azi Paybarah

The carrot-and-stick game played by Kevin Sheekey and Michael Bloomberg when it comes to the mayor's presidential ambitions continues in the Daily News today. Lloyd Grove notes that Bloomberg has publicly dismissed any Presidential dreams, but then asks Sheekey why such Internet domain names as Bloomberg2008.com. and MikeforPresident.com have been registered to anonymous owners for the next two years.

"What an interesting question," Sheekey tells Gove. "For the record, he's always been a very smart early investor."

How seriously should we be taking this ongoing comedy routine?

- Jason Horowitz

In an almost quadrennial ritual mating dance between New York and the Democrats that has persisted t  read more »

In an almost quadrennial ritual mating dance between New York and the Democrats that has persisted t  read more »

Mike won’t rule out backing Eliot, Kevin Sheekey says on Fred Dicker’s show.

The move would make a lot of political sense; Bloomberg might never hear the end of it from his Wall Street friends though.

There's a press conference about to get underway on the City Hall steps I'd initially mistaken for some kind of new think tank, but which instead look the kind of threat to the Senate GOP that had, heretofore, existed only in Kevin Sheekey's imagination.

This one isn't funded by Bloomberg, but by the Leeds publishing family. It's called NY EdPAC, and while it's technically a non-partisan, independent expenditure campaign, the targets of a promised $3 million in spending are Senate Republicans who won't commit to send state money to city schools per the Campaign for Fiscal Equity decision.

The consultants on the campaign are Valerie Berlin and Jonathan Rosen; they ran the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee's successful 2004 efforts. Their presence here, rather than with the Senate Democratic organization, suggests that this will be the main anti-GOP push.

Just what Joe Bruno needed.

Back in the late 1990’s, Mike Bloomberg was just another media mogul and Kevin Sheekey was a young  read more »

Back in the late 1990’s, Mike Bloomberg was just another media mogul and Kevin Sheekey was a y  read more »

[Note: We now have an "extended entry" feature, which means that if you want to read this whole item, you can click the "continue reading" link at the bottom.] I've been flaky, to say the least, about The Politicker's occasional forays into the awards business, but two bits of spin last week -- one brilliant, one abysmal -- have inspired a return. First:

The Al Sharpton "So Crazy It Just Might Work" Award for great spin goes to Bloomberg political advisor Kevin Sheekey. At least, I'm guessing that it's Sheekey who decided to spin the Mayor's companion Diana Taylor's failure to land the top job at the FDIC as a consequence of Mike's standing up to the NRA. According to this narrative, Bush wanted Taylor for the job, but the gun-nuts in the Senate told the White House they'd block the appointment. She takes a bullet, so to speak, for Mike, gun-control martyr.  read more »

The only problem is that nobody involved aside from New York Post headline writers seems to believe the story. (If you read the original piece, which got the wood, you can see the writer hedging pretty hard, and quoting a source who thinks something came up in vetting.) I don't have an explanation -- lots of great theories out there! -- but a conservative source with strong ties both to the White House and the Hill was among those who dismissed the notion that the NRA played a decisive role.

Even before the results are in, one of the questions coming out of the Bloomberg campaign is: Whither Kevin Sheekey?

Nobody who knows Mike's closest political advisor expects him to move back over to the Government payroll. And despite occasional rumors, I don't think he's likely to be running Mike's '08 Presidential campaign.

Sheekey could pull a Zenia Mucha, take a glamorous, behind-the-scenes corporate job (Mucha, Pataki's advisor, is at Disney), and keep an informal advisory role with Bloomberg.

But I'm not sure the guy behind two Mayoral victories and a Republican National Convention -- all of them, by the way, efforts on the scale of a presidential campaign, with budgets at least in the high eight digits -- will be on the sidelines in 2008.  read more »

And there's one campaign that, for a number of reasons, makes particular sense along these lines: John McCain's.

Just speculation. Sheekey emails that he's too superstitious to talk about this stuff today.

The Powell Doctrine may not be in fashion in Washington these days, but Kevin Sheekey is clearly a believer.

The Bloomberg campaign is responding to Freddy's jib-jab with, as usual, overwhelming force: a new television spot whose script begins:  read more »

"Sometimes those negative political ads are so over the top they actually insult your intelligence."

Not an inaccurate statement. But given that Freddy's spot only saw the light of day courtesy of the Post, the animated spot seems more like an excuse than a provocation.

The congressman from the Bronx and, later, Queens, whose obituary appears today, has an additional distinction: He gave Bloomberg campaign manager Kevin Sheekey his start in politics. Scheuer also gave Sheekey a trove of colorful anecdotes, but when I spoke to the late Congressman at his Washington home before the Sheekey-led Republican National Convention, all he would say was that he recalled the Bloomberg aide as "a nice young man."  read more »

Our man Jason Horowitz just phoned down from a Ferrer event in the Bronx, where he met a rather precocious tracker for Mayor Mike's campaign.

The high school senior, who flexed some media smarts and refused to give his name, told Jason that he'd met Kevin Sheekey at his alma mater, the elite Ethical Culture Fieldston School. Mr. Sheekey, he said, was checking out the digs with an eye to sending his two young twins there. When he told Mr. Sheekey that he yearned to work for Mike, the teen was recruited on the spot.  read more »

Apparently, folks at the Ferrer announcement were teasing him about working for Bloomberg...for free.

Described as youthful, handsome, and brown-haired, the fellow was last seen making a beeline away from the press and pol gaggle, cell phone in hand, to hail headquarters with a report of his infilatration.

The Politicker simply doesn't understand why John Haggerty, Bloomberg's Republican field operative hasn't been paid. The Ognibene folks see sinister motives, but other GOP insiders aren't sure what's to be gained.

But here's another perplexing item: Back in January, campaign manager Kevin Sheekey leaked the hiring of three political operatives to the Times. They included two Democrats, Stu Loeser and Patrick Brennan, and a Republican, Kevin Fullington. Fullington is a former aide to City Council GOP leader Jimmy Oddo who now works in the Mayor's Office of Legislative Affairs.  read more »

Six months later, the two Democrats are on Mike's campaign payroll, but Fullington's name still hasn't shown up on a campaign filing. And I saw him at City Hall earlier today.

So what's the deal? The Democrats over there just can't bring themselves to sign those GOP paychecks?

Just got off the phone with Joe Mercurio, who says he shouldn't be the one taking the blame for Virginia's doctored mail piece, and who will be appearing on NY1's Road to City Hall tonight to tell his side of the story.

The bottom line: he says the piece was "printed over my objections," and that Fields saw before and after versions of the flier.

The piece, originally designed in March, went through a dozen drafts, he said. They were circulated to Fields along with her top political and government staffers.

"Before and after versions of the piece with the Anglos and with the Asians was circulated to her chief-of staff, her deputy borough president, her, and the treasurer," Mercurio said.

Mercurio originally objected to the flyer, he said, because he thought it wasn't a good use of campaign cash. He also said the photograph, and the photoshopped Asians, were put in as a placeholder, and that he wouldn't have used a photograph that included political staffers who hadn't endorsed the candidate.

"It never should have went out for reasons that had nothing to do with the two stock photos," he said.

Mercurio said he thought the piece was on hold.

"Then one day I get a phone call from Al Handell at Astoria Graphics saying [campaign manager] Chung Seto and [treasurer] Milton Wilson sent him over a low resolution .pdf for a run of printing.... Milton called me and insisted that I get the artwork from Winning Directions. It had to be done, it had to be done then. Winning Directions was gracious enough to send over the artwork."

A Fields aide disputed Mercurio's version, and said she had not seen before and after versions of the photograph.

To the extent that this is all a big deal, the central issue seems to me to be whether Virginia saw the before and after versions of the flyer, and if she did, why she didn't mention that at Wednesday's press conference.  read more »

And beyond that, the question is who will capitalize on a mess that will surely make it very hard for Virginia to go anywhere but down. Can Ferrer revive his support among black voters? Can Miller or Weiner make inroads?

And how hard is Kevin Sheekey laughing?

The apparent death of the West Side Stadium, and the 2012 bid, are full of ironies -- bitter to some, sweet to others.

Here are the top two:  read more »

Mike's first real defeat will make Kevin Sheekey's job a whole lot easier.

The New York Times editorial page seems to like Albany gridlock -- and Shelly Silver -- a lot more in practice than it did in theory.

Mike hosted a packed, $1,000-a-head fundraiser for the Log Cabin Republicans last night.

We hear Patrick Murphy, the Log Cabiner running for Council on the East Side, left a good impression on a crowd that included Bloomberg advisors Patti Harris, Kevin Sheekey, and Jonathan Capehart. Also there were Georgette Mosbacher and Herman Badillo.  read more »

Mike told the crowd that he knows the rap on him is that he used to be a Democrat, but that Giuliani was once a Democrat, and Reagan was once a Democrat.

"Badillo, weren't you one too?" he asked, and then called for a show of hands of lifelong Republicans, and found very few.

We're just back from the first campaign finance briefing at Mike's spiffy new headquarters off Times Square, where we noticed a diverse bunch of volunteers and some clear Kevin Sheekey touches. Among our favorites were the five clocks along one wall, each showing the time in a different key location: Brooklyn, the Bronx, Staten Island, Manhattan, and Queens.

Also decorating the place were several familiar Democratic faces who, it turns out, are being quite well compensated for switching teams this year.  read more »

Here are the salaries of Mike's top political operatives, on an annual basis:

Kevin Sheekey: $250,008 Terrance Tolbert (ex-Keith Wright aide): $180,000 Stu Loeser (ex-Schumer): $144,000 Patrick Brennan (ex-1199): $144,000

Kevin Sheekey, the Democrat behind the Republican National Convention, stood in the shade of a trail  read more »