Karin Gallet is the NYC Chairperson and Communications Director for The Committee to Draft Mike Bloomberg for President 2008, a grassroots effort with a self-explanatory mission that, if media coverage is any indication, is steadily picking up steam even as its target continues to be coy about having any interest in jumping into the national political fray. Who could blame him, really?

And yet, there has to be something tantalizing about the prospect of becoming the nominal “leader of the free world” for a man who happily foresees a life of philanthropy waiting for him on the horizon. What better way to potentially help the world than via the unparalleled (if somewhat dented and tarnished) bully pulpit of the President of the United States? Not even Bloomberg’s Billions can accomplish what he might be able to achieve as President, and those billions will still be there four or eight years down the road, still able to do a lot of good and perhaps even more with the added cache of “President” forever attached to his name.

What, though, would possess a successful clinical psychotherapist from Shawnee Mission, KS to uproot herself, relocate to New York City and, 12 years later, take on the challenge of convincing Mayor Bloomberg to take a calculated long shot at the highest office in the land?

“I was reading Das Kapital when I was 11 and wanted to overthrow the government when I was 13,” explains Gallet. “As I got older and wiser, however, I became a true believer in Democracy and the great experiment of America. My BA is in Poli Sci and I expected to be active in politics in some capacity my entire life.”

How did someone from Shawnee Mission end up in New York City and so deeply involved with the effort to draft Mayor Bloomberg to run for President?

Gallet: I moved to New York City on a complete whim. I had all the trappings of a nice suburban life: a cozy little brick house with a rose garden; two dachshunds; a cute little Miata, and a bad case of little town blues. I came for a few days after visiting my brother in Boston, and after a trip to the MOMA, I passed some time in a little café on Madison Avenue. People-watching through the window, Picasso poster rolled up in hand, drinking a latte coffee concoction unknown back home, listening to opera on the muzak, reading the NYT…. I decided in a NY minute, “I must live here!” A few months later, I had undone my entire life back home and moved into a tiny studio apartment in Chelsea which rented for three times my mortgage payment. I’ve not regretted it for a minute.

I wasn’t initially interested in Bloomberg as a politician, and I certainly wasn’t looking to get involved in some crazy draft movement. It happened that while doing some background studies on healthcare research and funding related to my job, along with wanting to sound halfway knowledgeable at the dinner table, I became aware of Bloomberg’s disease management initiatives, the positive impact of the smoking ban on cancer rates, and his rather remarkable understanding that prevention is actually the best national health care policy of all.

Also impressive was the breadth of his charitable interests and how they intersected with his politics.  His work on behalf of stem cell research; his level-headed but aggressive approach to environmental preservation; his willingness to back candidates across party lines based on their policies and results instead of their politics; the transparency of City Hall; crime reduction; education; poverty. His management of the most difficult restoration projects known to man, bringing the City back after 9/11, has been spectacular.

He posted up all the promises he made while campaigning for Mayor and updates his progress on each and every one. Even the few that he hasn’t been able to keep or had to alter have been openly discussed instead of politically spinning a new version of what was said.  He’s been willing to do some very unpopular things in New York believing that in the end, doing the right thing is more important that being liked. He brought lessons learned in corporate business to manage the people’s business.

He’s just damned impressive.

So, while he said that he wants to devote himself to philanthropy after his term, it occurred to me that the most charitable thing he could do for the United States was to run for POTUS.

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