He may be vying for the vote of the common man, but multi-billionaire Mike Bloomberg has rejoined some of the exclusive private clubs that he quit during his first mayoral run because he feared the optics of the predominantly white male social societies.
The former three-term mayor rejoined the elite Brook Club, headquartered on East 54th Street in Midtown Manhattan, after he left office in 2014.
The head-scratching move immediately drew fire.
“This is disgraceful. This just shows Mike Bloomberg’s true nature. He’s the definition of the 1 percent who has disdain for the other 99 percent, ” said George Albro, a founder of the New York Progressive Action Network that is backing Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders for president.
But Bloomberg was welcomed back to the club with open arms.
“He was a great member and a great mayor,” Brook club manager Gregory Godon told The Post Monday. “He’s got a lot of friends.”
Godon said it costs $12,000 to join plus a $4,000 annual membership fee.
But movers and shakers who are 30 and under can join for as little as $700 and pay annual dues of $350, he said.
Started a century ago for the wealthy set interested in the arts, the Brook’s other famous members are said to have included Fred Astaire, John F. Kennedy, John Jacob Astor IV and William Vanderbilt II.
Godon declined comment other who its others current members are.
He did say the Brook began accepting women a generation ago and insisted they are now well represented among its 1,100 member – with 450 in the tri-state area and the rest spread out across the country and globe.
Asked what percentage of the members were white and male, he said the club does not keep a gender or racial breakdown of its membership but emphasized that “we take people from all walks of life.”
The Brook on 54th StreetJames MesserschmidtThe Huffington Post first reported Bloomberg’s re-emergence at the Brook.
The Post’s Page 6 also reported in 2014 that Bloomberg had rejoined the posh Century Club in Westchester and nominated his daughters Emma and Georgina for membership.
The Bloomberg campaign defended his re-enrollment in the private clubs, claiming they have diversified.
“Mike found that these clubs, some of which had been formed as much as a century ago by Jewish families who weren’t allowed in other clubs, had changed in the 12 years he was Mayor,” said Bloomberg campaign spokesman Stu Loeser.
“Just as families in the broader Jewish community had changed over time, these clubs had become far more interracial and more interfaith — and one that historically did not admit women is now heading toward gender parity,” he said.
Bloomberg also had prior membership in the Harmonie and Racquet and Tennis clubs.
Albro of the Progressive Action Network scoffed about claims of the clubs’ increased diversity. “They’re getting more diverse with multimillionaires and multibillionaires,” he said.
When he announced he quit these clubs when first running for mayor in 2001, Bloomberg said, “I have urged the membership committees of the clubs to consider as many different applicants as they possibly can and to take an active stance in trying to make sure that they get as good a group of people as they can, but a diverse group of people.”
“Those clubs have a right to do what they want, but if I can’t change them, and I choose to resign, then I have chosen to go elsewhere,” he added.
Primary rival Bernie Sanders, who rails against billionaires and “the 1 percent”, had no immediate comment on Bloomberg’s country clubbing.



