‘Thousands of people relied on that promise. They moved to other cities. They gave up school, jobs, and job opportunities. They uprooted their lives…’
(Michael Barnes, Liberty Headlines) Billionaire Michael Bloomberg is the proud owner of a recently purchased 4,600-acre luxury ranch in Colorado.
But the failed Democratic presidential candidate still has yet to make good on payment promises he made to campaign workers.
The former New York City mayor—now a western ranch owner—has a net worth of $56.2 billion, making him the 16th richest person in the world, according to Forbes.
Why he’s stiffing his loyal former workers is a question that remains unanswered. It’s also curious given his progressive political bent and the Democratic party’s affinity for class warfare and supposed workers’ rights.
Bloomberg, a financial services magnate, bought the ranch from Henry Kravis, co-founder of the New York City-based private equity giant KKR.
Kravis purchased the “Westlands” ranch for $5.5 million in 1991. He sold it to Bloomberg for $44.79 million six weeks after Bloomberg dropped out of the Democratic primary race—and roughly one month after Colorado’s billionaire progressive governor Jared Polis issued a stay-at-home executive order.
Bloomberg’s presidential aspirations exploded in his face during a nationally televised Democratic primary debate when Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., confronted him for his alleged mistreatment of female employees.
Warren accused Bloomberg of calling female workers “fat broads” and “horse-faced lesbians.” His subsequent Super Tuesday election performance was so pathetic he quit shortly after.
Since dropping out, Bloomberg has faced a series of lawsuits for failing to pay health care benefits and salaries through the November general election as promised to all campaign workers upon employment.
After two months of haggling, he finally resolved the health care issue last week, albeit diminished COBRA plans. By then, he’d already purchased his Colorado ranch.
“But the Bloomberg campaign must keep all of the promises it made to induce staffers to join the campaign, especially the promise to employ the staffers through the general election,” an attorney representing an aggrieved former staffer told Politico.
“Thousands of people relied on that promise,” another lawsuit states. “They moved to other cities. They gave up school, jobs, and job opportunities. They uprooted their lives.”