Bonus reform could hit Gracie Mansion.

Mayor Bloomberg’s aides � conditioned to expect windfall bonuses for helping achieve bigger margins of victory on Bloomberg’s last two reelection campaigns� worry their billionaire boss will only dole out lumps of coal for his meager third term win this go around.

�It�s crossed our minds,� one Bloomberg campaign aide told The New York Times. �How could it not?�

Last Tuesday, Bloomberg was projected to trounce Democratic rival Bill Thompson, according to polls.

Instead, the Republican/Independent lost Brooklyn and the Bronx, and squeaked by Thompson on a 2.4 percentage point margin.

The poor showing was a nearly three-quarters decline from his 2005 margin of victory, according to the Times.

�If they [campaign aides] knew it was going to be by the skin of their teeth, they deserve it for pulling off a victory,� Ken Sherrill, a professor of political science at Hunter College, tells the paper. �If all the public polls were right, they should get stiffed.�

Not so fast.

Bloomberg does hail from Wall Street, after all. Even if his camp were clueless about his vulnerabilities, that doesn�t mean the staffers won’t still be handsomely compensated.

It wouldn�t be the first time a lavish cash bonus had nothing to do with performance.

(Source: NBC New York)