NYC council takes up term limit change this week

[October 07, 2008]  NEW YORK (AP) -- Mayor Michael Bloomberg's crusade to change term limits law so he can run again gets its first official test this week with a bill in the City Council, where it will compete with legislation intended to stop him.

Lawmakers who oppose Bloomberg's plans to modify the law without voter approval have drawn up a bill that would require any term limit change to be done by voter referendum only.

Backers plan to introduce the bill Tuesday, just as Bloomberg's supporters are set to introduce legislation that would change the law and allow three consecutive four-year terms for the mayor, council members and several other offices.

Elected officials are now limited to two terms, and as Bloomberg neared his final year in office, he struggled with what he wanted to do next. After deciding earlier this year against an independent White House bid, Bloomberg recently reversed his long-standing position on the city's term limits law and said last week he would seek to change it and run again.

The former CEO cited the Wall Street meltdown as the reason he believes he should stay on and guide the city through the storm, even though he began privately considering a third term months before the economy took a dive.

The council will not vote Tuesday; each bill must have hearings and proceed through a committee before going up before all 51 members. But all sides were already jockeying for support at City Hall on Monday at a closed-door meeting of the body's Democratic majority.

Before the meeting, some members who oppose Bloomberg's attempt to change the law legislatively, rather than with voter support, denounced the effort as nothing more than a vanity campaign by a power-hungry billionaire. They pledged to rally others to their side.

"You're going to see a debate in the hall starting today," said Councilman Bill de Blasio. "The people have to decide."

They may have a heavy lift. Two-thirds of the City Council will be forced out of office next year under the current term limits law, and a majority of members have expressed support in recent weeks for changing it through the council.

After Monday's private meeting, members described many of those present as favoring the idea of changing the term limit law, but they said there was disagreement about how to do it. They said the discussion was charged, and "lively" at times.

"There's no consensus," said Councilman Peter Vallone Jr. "There's an intense debate going on."

Speaker Christine Quinn, who was widely expected to run for mayor next year, has not publicly said how she would vote on any of the proposed term limits legislation, although last December she said she opposed extending term limits.

There are also questions about the support Bloomberg is trying to line up outside City Hall.

Billionaire cosmetics heir Ronald Lauder, who largely financed the referendum that created the term limits law in 1993, said last week he supported giving Bloomberg a chance to run again. Obtaining Lauder's support was widely seen as a major step toward victory for Bloomberg, because Lauder has the resources and clout to mount a public campaign against altering the law.

It now appears that Lauder's backing is not necessarily a sure thing -- he had told the mayor he would support only a temporary change to the law, essentially giving only Bloomberg and officials currently in office the chance to run for a third term.

The city law department said last week that the change had to be permanent because the administration believes a temporary law would be vulnerable to legal challenges.

Lauder is still deciding what to do, his spokesman Howard Rubenstein said Monday.

Later, Lauder issued a short statement saying, "The term limits debate is growing more difficult and divisive by the day." It said he had nothing more to add until he can speak with the mayor in person when Bloomberg returns from his overseas trip later this week.

Speaking to reporters while traveling in London Monday, Bloomberg said he did not necessarily disagree with the notion that term limits changes should be determined by the voters, but he said going through the council is necessary to get it done quickly.

"I think you can make a good case that he (Lauder) is right, this should be decided by the public, although at the moment, we just don't have the luxury," he said. "This financial crisis is here, and there's no ways to have a special election that would not be tied up in court for a long time."

In addition to the two bills expected to be introduced Tuesday, two more lawmakers who also oppose the mayor's proposed path to changing the law have another bill that would establish a commission to consider the issue and then put proposed modifications on the ballot in a special election next year.

[Associated Press; By SARA KUGLER]

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