They don’t call him “The Nanny” for nothing.
Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg returned in September to his namesake media empire, his 12-year run as Gotham’s most visible politician finally at an end, and the billionaire entrepreneur reportedly wasted little time reinstating the company’s policy of tracking employees.
The tracking system, which was quietly re-implemented this week, “allows everyone in the company to see when their coworkers arrived at work, giving the exact time they swiped their card upon entry. The arrival times are included in intercompany e-mails,” Women’s Wear Daily reported.
This claim is based on a WWD interview with a Bloomberg insider who is familiar with the practice, and calls it a significant “source of paranoia.”
When contacted by the Washington Examiner, company spokesman Ty Trippet responded with three words: “Decline to comment.”
Previously, under the leadership of former Bloomberg CEO Dan Doctoroff, the monitoring program had been done away with, its purpose not immediately apparent.
In fact, in an email to Bloomberg staff, Doctoroff had apparently referred to the tracking policy as “counterproductive,” according to WWD.
Bloomberg employees were thrilled to have the program junked by Doctoroff. With the former mayor reportedly reinstating the policy this week, it appears relief from the time-stamp program was only momentary.
Bloomberg is no stranger to supporting programs that critics say are overreaching and invasive. In fact, as mayor of New York City, Bloomberg received both praise and condemnation for backing citywide bans on trans fats, large sodas, smoking and much more.
More recently, Bloomberg has turned his attention — and his deep pockets — to supporting anti-Second Amendment rights measures, arguing passionately that Americans must be protected from firearms.
“[The National Rifle Association] say, ‘We don’t care. We’re going to go after you,’” Bloomberg told the New York Times in April of 2014. “‘If you don’t vote with us we’re going to go after your kids and your grandkids and your great-grandkids. And we’re never going to stop.’”
“We’ve got to make [the NRA] afraid of us,” he vowed.
For the former mayor, health and gun safety issues are more than a civic duty. They’re a moral responsibility.
“I am telling you if there is a God, when I get to heaven I’m not stopping to be interviewed,” he jokingly told the New York Times. “I am heading straight in. I have earned my place in heaven. It’s not even close.”
