Updated 07/10/2009 09:47 PM
Bloomberg Campaign Costs Reach $36 Million
To view our videos, you need to
enable JavaScript. Learn how.
install Adobe Flash 9 or above. Install now.
Then come back here and refresh the page.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg is sparing no expense to get re-elected.
According to the campaign's latest spending report, the mayor spent another $18 million from May 12 to July 1.
In the last two months, the mayor spent nearly $7 million was spent on television ads, $3 million on direct mail and $2 million on consultants.
The total amount spent for the year is $36 million, compared to the $23 million that the mayor had spent by this point in 2005.
Bloomberg is also spending plenty on his staff. One Queens field office employee named Rudy Giuliani, who is a cousin of the former mayor, gets paid nearly $7,000 a month.
There is also team of interns, and each one gets paid $1,000 every two weeks.
The campaign released the report ahead of a campaign finance filing deadline next week.
A spokesperson for Bloomberg's rival, City Comptroller William Thompson, blasted the mayor's spending, saying, "The tens of millions of dollars that the mayor has spent can't change the fact that he's ignored this City's working families.... [T]hat's why more than half of New Yorkers say they want new leadership in City Hall."
As of the last filing in May, Thompson's campaign had spent only $1.8 million.
The city also released the mayor's financial disclosure forms and tax returns. They do not show much change from last year, although the mayor did lose money in the stock market.
His charitable giving increased from $205 million in 2007 to $235 million last year.
Forbes Magazine estimates the mayor's worth at $16.5 billion.