When Mayor Bloomberg and his billionaire buddies announced their decision to extend term limits, they said they were still in support of limits but simply wanted to extend them from two terms to three. In fact, taxpayer subsidized billionaire Mort Zuckerman’s Daily News insists that there is no argument about the concept of term limits.
However, reading what Mike and those he recruited to support term limits extension are now saying, they are making arguments against any term limits.
Here’s a sample of what was said after the vote and at the Council’s public hearings.
I challenge anyone to explain how any of these statements can be seen as supporting term limits any at any time.
"It's a wonderful day for democracy," Bloomberg said hours after Thursday's victory vote. "I'm pleased that the majority of [the] City Council voted to give the public a bigger choice, more people to select from. Anybody that wanted to run before can continue to run. I plan to run, but I don't plan to start campaigning now."
In challenging times like these, voters should have a choice,” Ms. Quinn said. “By passing this bill we are increasing voter choice."
"Nobody can get a better job than being mayor," said Ed Koch, the last mayor to win three terms. "We should be happy that he wants the job."
"We should not be afraid to take our record to people," Councilman Leroy Comrie (D-Queens) told a Council chamber packed with restive spectators, cameras and advocates from both sides.
“Mayor Bloomberg has always been a great champion of opera and of all the cultural activities of New York,” he said. He joked that while “it’s no secret that Mayor Bloomberg finds opera slow at times,” all “kidding aside, the mayor understands the vital role that arts institutions play in the lives of our citizens.”
Barbara Hohlt of New Yorkers Against Gun Violence said the mayor had taken a “courageous stand against the problem of illegal guns.”
Peter Ticali, who has been active in community affairs since the Dinkins administration and founded a group called the Martial Life Arts Association, told the Council, “When in doubt, do the right thing. The right thing is to have your best team.”
Michael F. Rochford, executive director of the St. Nicholas Neighborhood Preservation Corporation, praised the Bloomberg administration’s accomplishments in education, housing and afterschool programs. We have not agreed with all the change; however, there has been a civil dialogue about change which has been very healthy and which has not always existed in the past, “One of the reasons the mayor has enjoyed such a high level of support is that the improvements and practices and services have made in the life of the city., It’s a better place to live, work and raise a family.”
Richard T. Anderson, president of the New York Building Congress, a trade group for the design, construction and real estate industries, spoke in favor of extending term limits. “Term limits have a negative impact on New York City, including the building industry,” he said, contributing to “municipal inefficiency and short-sightedness.”
Harry Nespoli, president of the Uniformed Sanitationmen’s Association (Local 831 of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters), began by questioning the need for a direct popular vote on term limits. “Guess what?” he asked. “The people voted you in. Your voice is the people’s.”
How soon after Mike is re-elected, will these members of New York’s permanent government begin the campaign to do away with all term limits?