Bloomy to seek third term

BY PETE DAVIS

Thursday, October 2, 2008 1:35 PM EDT

Mayor Michael Bloomberg just may get a chance to keep his mayoral title for four more years.

After months of dancing around questions about his position on extending city term limits that would allow him to run for four more years as mayor, Bloomberg is expected to announce on Thursday, October 2 that he will seek another term as mayor, according to numerous published reports.

Bloomberg is expected to seek a third term through legislation that the City Council would have to approve rather than via a public referendum. Voters twice approved keeping term limits in 1993 and 1996, respectively.

While Bloomberg's approval ratings have reached record high numbers this year, not everyone was quick to praise his expected decision to ask for a third term.

City Councilmember John Liu, who was planning to run for an unannounced citywide office in 2009, does not support term limits, but he opposes overturning them by anything other than a public vote.

"A couple of dozen people should not overturn the will of 8 million people," Liu said, referring to the city councilmembers who would have to sign off on new legislation to allow a third term.

City Councilmember Joseph Addabbo agreed with Liu's assessment that any change should come through a public referendum, but also warned that any legislation the City Council and the Mayor might sign would likely face legal challenges.

The possibility of extending term limits from two to three terms could also affect all of the citywide elected officials who were term-limited out in 2009 as well as candidates gearing up to run for those prospective vacant seats.

Meanwhile, during the last few weeks, many business leaders have come out publicly saying that they believe Bloomberg should seek a third term saying that he would be the best person to handle the difficult economic times the city is facing.

City Comptroller William C. Thompson, who was one of the candidates likely to run for mayor to replace Bloomberg, released a statement that said he opposed extending term limits by "legislative fiat." The statement also addressed the economic leadership many pundits are citing for keeping Bloomberg for a third term.

"New York City can and will survive when leadership changes," Thompson said in a statement. "We have faced fiscal crises before, and a number of new leaders stepped into office only a few months after the September 11 attacks, when New York City's economy was in a downward spiral. Democracy is bigger than any one person."

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Reader Comments

The following are comments from the readers. In no way do they represent the view of queenscourier.com.

Frederick R. Bedell Jr. wrote on Oct 5, 2008 11:10 AM:

" Well Mayor Bloomberg has made his decision to run for Mayor. Now I applaud the Mayor for I am a fan, supporter and had been a campaign worker for the Mayor and believe we still need him for his financial expertise. So Mike ,run Mike run. "

Minister Ciro Di Donna wrote on Oct 7, 2008 4:23 PM:

" Let me count the way's? In order for King Michael Bloomberg to raise money in the past was to raise the property tax on homeowner's to about 28%. He shut down several fires houses, laid off worker's etc., and once Wall Street boomed and from a little help from his friends in Albany and Washington, he was able to give back an annual $400 dollar property tax rebate to the homeowner's to pacify them and to his credit rehired most of the worker's that were laid off from their job's.
King Mike is no financial expertise. My pet rock could have done the same thing. "

Minister Ciro Di Donna wrote on Oct 8, 2008 10:28 AM:

" Former NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani said he favors letting Bloomberg run again because “We need someone with crisis management (experience) in that position.”
Let me count the way's how the King of Queen's Mayor Michael Bloomberg handled previous crisis? In order to raise money in the past, his Highness raised the property tax on homeowner's to about 28%. He shut down several fires houses, laid off worker's etc., and once Wall Street boomed and from a little help from his friends in Albany and Washington, he was able to give back an annual $400 dollar property tax rebate to the homeowner's to pacify them and to his credit rehired most of the worker's that were laid off from their job's. King Mike is no financial expertise. Cut back on the wine Rudy! My pet rock could have done the same thing. "