He’s hinted at it before, but now the 30 Rock star did a whole big sit-down interview with the Times about his political ambitions. The actor won’t run in 2013 because of his 30 Rock commitment, which will give him time to go back to school for a master’s degree in government. Baldwin just wants to understand. “What’s the reality of the city unions, of contracts, agreements, teachers, infrastructure, decentralizing, everything? And utilities, Con Ed, the M.T.A.— how does it all work?” (Well, it doesn’t always work. Lesson Number One. You are welcome.)
The actor, whose robust Twitter account has lately been devoted to answering less strictly civic questions (“@emmy_gee: @AlecBaldwin T or A?” T. Then A. Then a bit more T. Then back to the A), got in a couple jabs at the city’s high-profile politicians. He dinged Bloomberg for changing the term-limits law, and Christine Quinn, likely mayoral candidate, for going along with it. “I think it absolutely, positively disqualifies her,” he said of Quinn. “She totally betrayed a huge constituency here in the city.”
Baldwin, meanwhile, sees himself as a man of the people. Though he’s moving downtown to be near his girlfriend, a 27-year-old yoga instructor, he learned a lot about the darker side of the city on the mean streets uptown.
He said it had helped him to live on the Upper West Side, rather than in a wealthier neighborhood. “It is more real,” he said. “
Oh, Alec Baldwin. You can never run for national office, sorry.
No Plans for 2013, but an Actor Seems Focused on the Mayor’s Office [NYT]
