The Times’s Clyde Haberman wrote a humorous column a few days ago, commenting on the many millions of dollars Bloomberg has already spent on his re-election campaign.

Haberman points out that Howard L. Wolfson, a longtime Democratic operative who, in 2005, protested Bloomberg’s over-the-top spending, is now readily working for for the billionaire:

Hang on — can this critic of elephant-size spending be the same Howard Wolfson who is now helping guide the 2009 Bloomberg effort (for what is no doubt a lopsided amount of money)? Yes, it is. Mr. Bloomberg, elected twice as a Republican, has similarly purchased the services — and, by extension, the silence — of other political professionals who normally work only for Democrats.

Why not? What’s the point of having $16 billion if you can’t use a thick slab of it to drop on anyone who would oppose you?

(Source: The New York Times)