Sex Suit Could Be Problem for Bloomberg

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg speaks about his education plan to National Urban League executives during a luncheon Wednesday, July 25, 2007, in St. Louis. Bloomberg, a potential independent presidential candidate, is pushing for performance-based merit pay for teachers in the nation's public schools. The National Urban League conference officially kicks off this evening and runs through Saturday. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson) (Jeff Roberson - AP)

NEW YORK -- Mayor Michael Bloomberg speaks his mind and that is a big part of his cachet in anything-goes New York.

But new details from a sexual harassment lawsuit he settled in 2000 and other racy comments over the years show how his blunt style could prove a liability if he runs for president as an independent.

Before his election as mayor in 2001, Bloomberg was the target of a sexual harassment suit by a female executive who accused him of making repeated raunchy sexual comments while he was chief executive of his financial company, Bloomberg LP.

Among the allegations in the complaint:

_Bloomberg asked the woman who sued if she was giving her boyfriend "good" oral sex.

_He said "I'd like to do that" and "That's a great piece of a--" to describe women in the office.

_When he found out the woman was pregnant, he told her "Kill it!" and said "Great! Number 16!" _ an apparent reference to the number of women in the company who were pregnant or had maternity-related status.

Bloomberg denied the accusations. Both sides were barred from commenting because of confidentiality agreements. Stu Loeser, the mayor's spokesman, said Friday he had no comment for this story.

The suit was a minor annoyance for Bloomberg during the mayoral race in 2001; opponents in that first race tried, with little success, to draw attention to the allegations. It was not an issue in his 2005 re-election campaign.

But the suit and other potential embarrassments resulting from Bloomberg's tendency to speak his mind are largely unknown to the rest of the country and are certain to be re-examined if the billionaire media mogul undertakes a third-party, self-financed presidential campaign for 2008.

Bloomberg has denied having any plans to seek the presidency. Yet he recently left the Republican Party to become an independent and has increased his out-of-state travel, increasing his national visibility.

The harassment suit was filed in 1997 by former Bloomberg LP sales executive Sekiko Sakai Garrison. Bloomberg adamantly denied all the allegations in the suit. He settled the case in 2000 for an undisclosed amount without admitting any wrongdoing.