What's it like to be an opinion columnist for Mike Bloomberg?

Most readers of the general Internet are probably unaware that outgoing New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg has a centrist/left of center opinion news site called Bloomberg View.

Despite having some big-name writers like former White House official Peter Orzag and liberal columnist Ezra Klein, Bloomberg View goes largely unread by even avid news consumers.

Even so, The New Republic reports what it's like to be an associate of Bloomberg View (emphasis added):

[Bloomberg] approached a handful of prominent journalists he deemed like-minded intellectuals and made them offers too eye-popping to refuse. For on-site staffers there were ritzy amenities, such as the townhouse’s wireless-equipped rooftop Japanese garden. One former columnist based out of town had travel and accommodations written into his contract, which ended up including stays at five-star Manhattan hotels. Another was told off the bat that he’d be making “six figures, the first of which will be a two” with no specifications for weekly output. And for particularly big-name contributors, the numbers are even more boggling. Michael Lewis makes around $8,000 per 1,200-word column. ...

Writers were also wined and dined by Bloomberg himself. At a dinner for columnists at the Palm, the mayor promised not to censor anyone, assuring them that they could, within limits—one of which was advocating against a woman’s right to choose—write whatever they wanted. At another salon-style dinner in a private hotel dining room, Bloomberg explained that he didn’t care that the site was losing money. 

Despite all the perks and editorial freedom, TNR quotes one former columnist for Bloomberg View: "Editors go over there and it’s like 'Night of the Living Dead.'"

In other words, Bloomberg view is boring.