Days after news broke that he might be considering a run for New York City mayor, Anthony Weiner released a 21-page booklet Sunday outlining his policy proposals for the five boroughs.
The booklet-- titled "Keys To The City: 64 Ideas To Keep New York Capital Of The Middle Class"-- is likely another move by the former Democratic congressman, who resigned in 2011 after tweeting out lewd photos of himself, to gauge how New York City voters feel about him joining the already crowded field of mayoral candidates.
Many of the ideas in the booklet match those of a similar booklet Weiner released in 2009, during a bid for mayor which he later aborted. In fact, as The New York Times notes, many of the passages are copied verbatim and even the title is the same.
There are, however, some new and ambitious policy proposals that are likely to spark debate.
Proposals include a single-payer healthcare system run by the city, tax breaks for businesses that encourage employers to commute by bike, a requirement for sex offenders to wear a GPS tracking system, permitting gay men to donate blood, and a "question time" for the mayor, modeled after the British House of Commons.
Weiner would also raise taxes on New York City's wealthiest residents.
Weiner dodged questions from The Times over how seriously he was considering running for mayor. “I would take it on face value,” he said of the booklet. “I want these issues to be discussed and debated irrespective of who’s in the race.”
"I’ll leave it to the reader to try to derive motivation,” he added.
Weiner has until June 10th to decide if he'll run for mayor. According to a report last summer, he still has $4.5 million in his campaign coffers from his first mayoral bid.
Frontrunner Christine Quinn slipped in the polls last week, but still maintains a sizable lead over her opponents.
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