Bloomy seeks third term

With the financial markets in turmoil and economic forecasts dim for the immediate future, Mayor Michael Bloomberg is taking unprecedented steps to change the city’s term limits law giving him and other sitting city elected officials an additional four years in office.
“Given the events of recent weeks and given the enormous challenges we face, I don’t want to walk away from a city I feel I can help lead through these tough times,” Bloomberg said. “My whole life has prepared me for the challenges ahead and I want to give the voters a chance to decide if they want me at the helm.”
The City Council was expected to introduce a bill that would extend term limits at a stated meeting on Tuesday, October 7.
Two bills have originated with the bill from Bloomberg asking for a permanent change from two 4-year terms to three 4-year terms and a counter bill from a number of Queens Councilmembers including David Weprin, John Liu and Eric Gioia requiring a public referendum to do so.
City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, who many political pundits believe would support the legislation, has been meeting with her council colleagues on the issue, but she was not expected to announce her position on the legislation Tuesday.
However, since Bloomberg made his intentions known, a number of elected officials and influential organizations have not been gung ho on the idea or the process it is likely to undergo.
“I firmly believe that they have gone about this the wrong way,” said City Comptroller William Thompson, who is still planning to continue his run for mayor in 2009. “They are undermining democracy.”
Thompson said that there is still the opportunity to allow the voters to decide if they should abolish the term limits by putting a public referendum on a ballot in a special election, and he challenged the thought that not enough people would turn out for the special election.
“I think New Yorkers would want to come out and have their voices be heard,” Thompson said, who emphasized that more people would definitely turn out for a special election than those who would be involved in changing the process legislatively.
Meanwhile, Weprin, who chairs the City Council Finance Committee and is a candidate for comptroller in 2009, echoed similar sentiments.
“I think there was time when this idea was first circulated to do a public referendum in November,” Weprin said. “I think there is still time to do one in a special election in January, February or March, and if the bill does not include a public referendum before it became final, I’m voting against it.”
Bloomberg said that he is just asking voters for another opportunity to be a choice for the voters to select in November of 2009.
“And so to put it in very practical terms: handling this financial crisis while strengthening essential services - such as education and public safety - is a challenge I want to take on for the people of New York,” Bloomberg said. “And so, should the City Council vote to amend term limits, I plan to ask New Yorkers to look at my record of independent leadership - and then to decide if I have earned another term.”