4th
Michael Bloomberg = Max Headroom
Max Boardroom (aka Michael Bloomberg) 2009 (left) vs Max Headroom 1987 (right)
Last week, recalling the poster design for The Promise of New York, amNY’s front page showed an image of incumbent mayor Michael Bloomberg inside a TV to communicate the billionaire’s omnipresence all over the media in the form of campaign ads.
This week, The Village Voice’s front page takes this concept further by comparing Michael Bloomberg to the television 80’s character Max Headroom.
For those of you who may not know, Max Headroom was an artificially intelligent, digital talking head who spoke with a peculiar stuttering, and electronically distorted, voice. Essentially, he was a talking TV image.
In its cover, The Village Voice has styled Bloomberg’s image in the style of Max Headroom, and added the title: “Max Boardroom.”
The cover article illustrated in this front cover is titled: Bloomberg Keeps His Billions Separate From His Mayoral Obligations? Yeah, Right!. Written by Wayne Barrett, this very thorough article exposes the mayor’s use of his public office to further the interests of his media corporation, Bloomberg LP.
Interestingly, all five members of the Conflict of Interest Board, the city government watchdog group in charge of keeping the mayor from using his public office to further his private interests, are all appointed by—GASP!—the mayor himself. Furthermore, the budget of the Conflict of Interest Board is approved by the very same people they are supposed to regulate.
So, in essence, the Conflict of Interest Board appears to exist to provide citizens a false sense of security about their elected officials’ abuse of power, and little else.
The Board’s charter prohibits a public servant from using “his city position for the private advantage of the public servant or of anyone associated with the public servant.”
Providing extensive and detailed evidence, the article argues at great length that the mayor clearly does use his city position to further his private interests and the interests of those around him.
