D’Amato, Ferrer and Mel Miller Raise for Thompson

Mayoral hopeful Bill Thompson made a pre-Christmas appeal to supporters at Club 101 in Manhattan on Monday night, promising to tackle several policy challenges and unite the city in the wake of a devastating storm.

“If you look at the aftermath of the hurricane, there were neighborhoods that felt abandoned,” he said. “We need a mayor who is mayor of all five boroughs, and we’re only as strong as our weakest communities.”

Thompson had some help from some powerful friends, including Rep. Gregory Meeks, former Assemblyman Mel Miller, former Rep. Floyd Flake, former Bronx Borough president Fernando Ferrer, and former Sen. Al D’Amato who lavished praise on Thompson’s leadership skills and vowed to help the former comptroller get elected. D’Amato suggested that if President Obama campaigned more for Thompson, he would have been mayor today, Ferrer praised Thompson’s character, and Miller contrasted Thompson’s integrity with that of city and state public officials who have broken the law over the years. Thompson said he won’t get outspent 10 to 1 this time, but that he still needed their help.

“I’m not running an underfunded campaign this time around,” he said.