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)

When asked recently whether New Yorkers should be concerned about a foiled plot to blow up John F. Kennedy International Airport, his exasperated response was that people should "get a life!"

"You can't sit there and worry about everything," he said.

His staff and circle of city commissioners praise him endlessly as a boss, but acknowledge that he is often startlingly direct.

"He can be a little gruff," Patricia Lancaster, his commissioner for the Buildings Department, said at a recent news conference. She is one of a number of women serving in high-level jobs throughout his administration, including his No. 2 in City Hall, the first Deputy Mayor Patti Harris. Many are part of a close-knit group that has remained fiercely loyal to him for years, following him from his company to various city government jobs.

In private conversations, Bloomberg is less inhibited and is known to tell bawdy jokes, use provocative language and comment on women's appearances.

The public got a glimpse of this in 2003, when he told a pair of disc jockeys on a radio program that he would "really want to have" actress-singer Jennifer Lopez. A day later, Bloomberg backpedaled a bit and told reporters, as his face reddened, that he would want to "have dinner" with her.

The 65-year-old divorced bachelor had a reputation as a womanizer during the years he was building his financial empire. He began dating his girlfriend, investment firm executive and former state banking superintendent Diana Taylor, before his first run for mayor.

"I like theater, dining and chasing women," he once told a reporter. "Let me put it this way: I am a single, straight billionaire in Manhattan. What do you think? It's a wet dream."

In his 1997 autobiography, he boasted of keeping "a girlfriend in every city" during his years as a young Wall Street up-and-comer in the 1960s and 1970s.

A less-restrained Bloomberg was also portrayed in a book of quips, quotes and anecdotes attributed to him and put together by employees for a birthday present in 1990. It contains such statements as: "If women wanted to be appreciated for their brains, they'd go to the library instead of to Bloomingdale's."

Or, as he is quoted as saying about his invention, the Bloomberg computer terminal that made him rich, "It will do everything, including give you (oral sex). I guess that puts a lot of you girls out of business."

A former longtime Bloomberg employee who was familiar with the book confirmed the authenticity of the quotes to the AP and said Bloomberg regularly made similar offensive remarks. The person spoke on condition of anonymity out of fear that Bloomberg would retaliate.

During Bloomberg's 2001 campaign, he dismissed the book as "Borscht Belt jokes" and said he did not recall saying those things.

Lee Miringoff, head of the Marist College poll that tracks New York politics, said the allegations had little impact on public opinion at the time, but that a presidential run would draw more scrutiny.

"He doesn't have a defined national persona at this point," Miringoff said. "Certainly as a presidential candidate there might be a resurfacing of this _ it gets a second airing if he does decide to run."