When Mike Bloomberg held a rally this month at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, the signs of his wealth and influence were everywhere. Former Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter, long a paid adviser to one of Bloomberg’s charitable programs and now to his campaign, warmed up the crowd with chants of “Mike will get it done!” That followed a performance of the Nick Jonas song “Jealous” by an a capella group from the University of Pennsylvania, where Bloomberg has funded public health research. “Bloomberg interns” have worked at the National Constitution Center and other Philadelphia cultural sites thanks to his largesse, and Bloomberg gave the center’s former CEO a $50,000 donation for his successful 2016 run for state treasurer. Across the city, soda sales had dropped after a 2017 tax increase that Bloomberg spent millions to pass, study and defend with the support of Mayor Jim Kenney, whose reelection he backed last year with $1 million in outside spending. And the Bloomberg-endorsed state attorney general was leading a data-driven campaign against gun crime in the city. Bloomberg told the crowd that his spending had transformed American life: It helped shut down 300 coal-fired power plants, strengthen gun laws in 20 states and flip the U.S. House to a Democratic majority. The self-made business news and information tycoon boasted that he would be the only New York billionaire in a race against President Donald Trump, who has been accused of exaggerating his riches and running a fake charity. Bloomberg’s presidential campaign has been powered by his estimated $60 billion fortune and by years of political and charitable giving that have given him a foundation of goodwill across the U.S. Bloomberg has long said he wants to give away nearly all of his fortune before he dies, and wants to use the money to tackle big problems that government has failed to solve. His spending has dramatically increased since he completed his third term as New York mayor in 2013, making him one of the nation’s most important philanthropists and political donors and giving him achievements to tout in his self-funded advertising blitz. But perhaps just as important, it has created a sprawling network of powerful people and groups who have used his money to win elections, fund advocacy campaigns, pay for signature municipal and education programs and conduct important research, an Associated Press review has found. Many of those beneficiaries and their associates are backing Bloomberg’s late-launched campaign, giving the former Republican a base of Democratic Party institutional and grassroots support that he might lack if he wasn’t one of the world’s richest men. They include members of Congress who were elected and reelected with his help, mayors who attended his prestigious training program at Harvard University, and gun control and environmental activists who admire his commitments to their causes. Even celebrity endorsers, from actor Ted Danson to singer John Cougar Mellencamp, have ties to his philanthropy, the AP found. CLOUT ALL OVER “He had the wealth to give away money for years to build friends, to build political allies, to build relationships, in ways that the average American doesn’t have, can’t do. That’s a huge advantage,” said Paul S. Ryan, a vice president at Common Cause, a government watchdog group. The AP found signs of Bloomberg’s clout all over. A […]

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