Talk about imbalance. Mayor Mike Bloomberg did just that last week, citing the lopsided flow of dollars between the City and the Nation and State.

New York City sends to Washington, D.C. in taxes, the Mayor noted, $13 billion more than it receives in spending. The inequity in the cash flow from Albany is more than $11 billion.

At a luncheon last week at the Four Seasons, the Mayor announced a new initiative – a shrewd and unique attack on the political establishment’s continued disregard of the needs of NYC.

Bloomberg intends to hold political candidates accountable for supporting the city’s priorities. He launched the campaign before a group of prominent and wealthy political donors and activists by presenting each with “The New York City Card.” The Card will be updated each year and contain a list of the top State and Federal issues facing New York City each year.

Although the room was filled with donors of every political persuasion, the commonality, Bloomberg said, was their passion for New York City.

“New York City needs all the help it can get in its fight for its fair share from Washington and Albany,” he told the luncheon. “When National and State politicians and candidates call New Yorkers for campaign cash, we need to make sure they support our City’s interest. It’s simple, if you want to tap into New York’s vast reservoir of resources, you need to support the policies and legislation that New York City needs to prosper and grow.”

The five priorities listed on the first New York City Card are:

• The approval of the trade-in of $2 billion in Federal tax credits in exchange for $2 billion in upfront Federal funds for the long-needed rail link from Lower Manhattan to Long Island.

• The allocation of Federal Homeland Security should be distributed to the nation’s states and cities based on threat, not pork barrel politics.

• The opposition to Federal eminent domain legislation that would cripple responsible re-development and revitalization.

• The increase in the State cap on charter schools to 250 to provide working families greater educational choice for their children.

•The support of legislation to provide financial incentives to produce affordable housing for New Yorkers
The New York metro area leads the nation in campaign donations. The Mayor’s own Upper East Side zip code topped the list of political money-giving. The mayor has called for an end of the free ride.

“Anybody that comes to this city and asks for money, you should ask them, ‘What are you going to do for us?”’ Bloomberg said.

This writer has been a fan of Mayor Mike because of his creative and businesslike approaches to city problems. He is uniquely positioned to twist the arms of the big monied New Yorkers who support the political parties and candidates.

Bravo Mike.

Where do we get a card?

BYE BYE

It’s time!

Queens State Senator Ada Smith has to go.

She has become an embarrassment to our borough, her district, the State Senate and the New York State Legislature -- and that is quite a difficult task.

But Ada Smith has done it. She has done it with such gross and bizarre behavior that it is pretty clear that the Senator who was redistricted from Brooklyn into Queens in 1992 seems to be in serious need of psychological help.

Her history of explosions have targeted staff members and authority figures and should not have been accepted, overlooked or covered up years ago; but the political structure tends to circle the wagons to protect its own.

Smith appeared last week in Albany City Court to answer charges that she threw hot coffee into the face of a staffer. She pled not guilty to a misdemeanor charge of third-degree assault where an order of protection was issued preventing her from contacting the staffer who said she is afraid.

Punishment was meted out by Senate Minority Leader David Paterson who stripped her of a $9,500 annual stipend and State car, and other perks and privileges.

If Smith chooses to run again, Smith will also have to answer to an informed electorate in the Democratic Primary in September. And you can bet that this time around she will have real opposition.

Before the latest Smith blow-up, Liz Goldsmith, community activist and founder of “Mothers Against Guns,” had indicated her intentions of entering the race.

Let the fireworks begin.

Michael Schenkler can be reached via this contact form.