Tish and BdB Suing Over Term Limits
As expected, Councilmembers Letitia James and Bill de Blasio have formally announced their intention to file a lawsuit over yesterday’s vote to extend term limits. “New Yorkers twice voiced their opinions on term limits,” said de Blasio in their joint press release, “and yesterday their will was subverted.” And James: “The vote taken by the…
As expected, Councilmembers Letitia James and Bill de Blasio have formally announced their intention to file a lawsuit over yesterday’s vote to extend term limits. “New Yorkers twice voiced their opinions on term limits,” said de Blasio in their joint press release, “and yesterday their will was subverted.” And James: “The vote taken by the City Council yesterday represents a great step backward for democracy.”
F Bloombeg and his autocratic, arrogant snarky self. we need him in a fiscal crisis??! he’s been the steward of this physical crisis.
The New York public is so over-burdened and pissed-off by taxes, fines and tolls that if there were a referendum calling for all politicians to be beaten and hung on poles in City Hall Park, it would probably pass.
The council members are by and large hacks and rent-a-pols.
For instance, Yassky can’t decide whether to sell or lease himself to the Orthodox community in Williamsburg. Why should we want these idiots to run for second terms, much less third terms? Bloomberg is a different story. A billionaire blow-hard who is accountable to no one and not truly of this world. Listen, NY is a city of hustle, of working it out in the margins, of getting by by getting along. In the final analysis these bozos mean very little to the life of the city. I say throw them out every year. who would notice?
I actually think that had this gone to referendum, the public probably would have extended term limits to three terms, rather than two. But Bloomberg just didn’t want to take the chance. And although I like him well enough (except for his ALWAYS pro-development stance in all cases–except putting up big building in the sacrosanct Upper East Side) this leave me disgusted. As mentioned, the Wall Street mess was an excuse to push this through quickly (in a city where things usually take too much time!) and obviously many people were pressured or just wanted to kiss up. The City Council has a legal right to do it this way, but it seems a clear power grab to me and sets a bad precedent. Plus, it makes a cynical population even more cynical, if that’s possible.
But if he gets rid of the Cabaret Laws, all is forgiven!
I think G-Man has it right.
From my perspective, having voted for term limits in NYC, it seemed like a good idea at the time…and I’m certainly glad Ghouliani didn’t get a third term!!! Ugh! And that ploy to extend his term three months! Thank goodness he didn’t get away with it…but having thought about it, I’m sure Bloomberg maneuvered him out of there. Bloomberg benefitted from the way things shook out between Mark and Freddie in the primary and the small window of time before the election tipped it all to Bloomie…
That said, I wouldn’t pass out if the council members and mayor had three terms but frankly, as Gman pointed out “Legal isn’t always the moral high ground.”.
I might have voted for Bloomberg but I’m feeling a little disgusted at the way this was rangled. As someone above already commented, they’ve lost another vote.
Parts of our government are supposed to create, at least, the illusion of a representational democracy. This vote by the council, has been a bit of an “aha, I see” moment for many people I speak with.
To Aussie who wrote that Bush got elected twice…I’ll just leave it at that with little comment. It speaks for itself.
People need to realize that we have very, very little “voter fraud” in the US but seemingly plenty of “election fraud”.
It’s kind of too bad…at least for my generation. We thought things in the US were AOK and moral. Social movements seemingly made for some positive change. Of course it was all a dream even at that time, but we had hopes.
Ms. BG
The power of incumbancy is so great that the people re-elect officials under indictment. I find the statement, “If you don’t want someone you vote them out. What could be simpler than that?,” to be particularly glib, or less flattering, naive. Here’s another fact that flies in the face of my opposition to what the mayor has engineered: term limits are a substitution for people actually learning about the issues and the candidates, the effort necessary for cmu’s prescription.
Dave, 12-24 months isn’t really that long when you realize how complex, for example, working with the city budget is, and that is just one aspect of the multi-faceted job. But it is ineffective, especially when you have half (more or less) of the chamber being elected at one time. Also, term limits give greater power to City Council staff (not to be confused with the council members own staffs) because they are the only ones with institutional memory.
I hear you dittoburg, and the other arguments as well. Legal isn’t always the moral high ground. Anybody happy with the way Markowitz re-directed taxpayer funds to his concert series? It was all legal.
Democracy is what got Bush elected… a second time.
Like free markets it’s a great thing when it works but sometimes there needs to be an intervention.
Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum of Dubai is a better choice from a “massive increase in number of available housing units” perspective.
g man – I get your point, but that still doesn’t make it democratic to say “you can’t vote for B”, it clearly can never be democratic to say that. If the voters want to vote in something undemocratic (i.e. an undemocrtic restriction that is the result of a democratic vote) thats fine, but it doesn’t change that fact. The voters could vote in a referendum for a one-party one-candidate election. But the subsequent election wouldn’t be democratic would it?
Perhpas Kim Jong-Il will throw his hat into the ring.
And cmu, the suit to stop it was tossed out by the State Supreme Court so there had to be legalese that made it all right.