Michael Bloomberg did a fairly good job of rolling out his decision to leave the Republican Party in favor of a non-affiliated status, convincing a lot of folks -- particularly Beltway types who love the idea of "centrist" politicians who eschew party politics -- that he might be able to usher in a new era of post-partisanship. Unfortunately, though entirely unsurprisingly, Bloomberg's actions don't match his rhetoric in the least bit. Raymond Hernandez and Danny Hakim have the story for The New York Times.

At the same time that Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg has been traveling the country in recent weeks denouncing partisan politics, he has been quietly sending a very different message to the state's Republican Party: I will continue to support the G.O.P. team.

On June 19, shortly before Mr. Bloomberg announced that he was leaving the Republican Party, he telephoned the state's most powerful Republican, Joseph L. Bruno, the Senate majority leader.

The mayor wanted Mr. Bruno to know the announcement was coming. But Mr. Bloomberg, a major contributor to New York Republicans, also sought to reassure the majority leader that despite the change, he would still back Mr. Bruno and his Republican colleagues in the Senate.

[...]

Mr. Bloomberg is seeking to raise his national profile for what he calls his nonpartisan approach to problem-solving, perhaps in preparation for a presidential bid. But at the same time, he appears determined to maintain his strong ties to Republican leaders in Albany as they try to hang on to their slim majority in the Senate, which they have controlled for more than 40 years.

Mr. Bloomberg's support for Republican candidates is critical; the mayor has been the biggest individual donor to Senate Republicans, according to state campaign finance records, giving $575,000 since October. He also gave the New York State Republican Committee $175,000 in the same period. (During that time, by contrast, he did not donate to any Democrats in the Legislature.)

[...]

[Republican Assembly leader James N. Tedisco] said that Mr. Bloomberg, who last year donated $50,000 to the Assembly Republicans' campaign committee, had given no inkling that he was about to leave the party. Rather, he said, the mayor made it clear that he would continue supporting the Republican caucus in the Assembly.

These Times reporters do a good job of cutting through the Bloomberg spin, fairly deftly undercutting any notion that the New York mayor does not, at least for now, intend to continue to be a loyal Republican through and through. As a result, this story could be problematic for Bloomberg should he run for President as an independent. For one, being such an avid supporter of one political party over the other belies any claims of post-partisanship or non-partisanship, which would be at the heart of a Bloomberg run. But more importantly, claiming to be independent while at the same time secretly assuring the entrenched special interests within a party that he remain loyal to them makes Bloomberg appear to be disengenuous, at the best, and remarkably cynical and conniving at the worst.

Bloomberg certainly has the cash -- and more importantly the willingness to spend that cash -- to make up with paid media for just about any negative press he receives in the unpaid media. What's more, there are a lot of reporters down in Washington whose fetish for nonpartisanship could blind them to these facts about Bloomberg. That said, if and when Bloomberg loses the luster of bipartisanship or nonpartisanship or post-partisanship or whatever as a result of his clearly partisan actions, he's going to look a lot like a billionaire opportunist whose bank account isn't large enough to woo back voters unhappy with the current political playing field.