Mayor Bloomberg secretly financed a poll on his police commissioner as a potential mayoral candidate to succeed him, according to a published report.
The billionaire mayor, who was elected as a Republican but has since left the party, backed the poll in early June, the New Yorker reported Monday, citing two unnamed Bloomberg advisers.
He reportedly used the poll to try and convince Kelly to run this year, but Kelly declined, the magazine said.
The deadline to get on the ballot has since passed.
Bloomberg declined to talk about the report Monday.
"I don't know where that came from," he said.
Questions about Kelly as a mayoral candidate were also raised in May, when a mysterious telephone poll asked questions about him potentially running.
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At the time, Kelly told reporters "I'm not aware of who's behind the polling," and added that he's focused on his job as commissioner.
Rumors about a Kelly candidacy for the Republican nomination have swirled for years, including in previous mayoral races.
