Court makes surprise ruling against third term

This news just came in. Niger1.com, the prodigious website covering all issues from Niger reports:

Niger’s Tandja mulls next move in bid to cling to power

NIAMEY (AFP) — Rebuked by the constitutional court and facing an opposition protest Sunday, President Mamadou Tandja’s search for a way to stay in power beyond a second mandate seems to have run out of legal options.

The leader’s hopes of running for a third consecutive term in office — prohibited by Niger’s constitution — were dealt a heavy blow by the court’s ruling on Friday.

It rejected the presidential decree Tandja had used to call a referendum on a new constitution on August 4, which if approved would done away with the two-term limit and let him stand in December’s presidential ballot.

It's nice to see a government ruled by laws, not by powerful individuals.

For more, click here.

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Noticing New York posts ANOTHER comprehensive update up about the Bloomberg administration!

Noticing New York's Michael D. D. White notes that "We can't keep up with the Bloomberg updates. . . " but NNY gives "it one heck of try!"

We at No Power Grab can hardly keep up with Noticing New York's coverage of Bloomberg but this is a good time for us to try.  Noticing New York frequently covers Bloombergalia and has done a number of comprehensive overview pieces.  The newest one just went up.  The incredible thing is that the latest one tells quite a story even though it is comprised of just one week's worth of updates.

Here, as a good resource, is a comprehensive list of NNY's recent comprehensive Bloomberg overview pieces including the one just up.

The Basic Overview Package:

Monday, February 2, 2009

The Good News IS the Bad News: Thanks A lot for Mayor Bloomberg's "Charity" (Part I)

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

The Good News IS the Bad News: Thanks A lot for Mayor Bloomberg's "Charity" (Part II)

What you will find: Do you know when Bloomberg made his money?  How much did he make before he started politics and how much did he make afterward?  And when exactly did he start "giving" is his "charitable" gifts away and what polical conditions does he attach to that money?  How much more does Bloomberg spend on charitable campaign spending than on his direct political campaign expenditures?   How much more does he spend than all his opposition?  And what about the extra money Bloomberg is forcing taxpayers to spend on the political camaign?  How does Bloomberg make his money by doing business with businesses that have dealing with the city?  Who are Bloomberg's top deputies and what do they not know about staying away from conflicts of interest?  What conflicts of interest rules did Bloomberg agree to follow and then ignore?  How does Bloomberg's "terminal" business pull in money for Bloomberg What famous Twilight Zone episode does the Bloomberg adminstartion bring to mind?      

A Recent Set of Updates:

Sunday, April 12, 2009

Bloomberg Update: Fire and Ice (Part I)

Sunday, April 12, 2009

Bloomberg Update: Fire and Ice (Part II)

What you will find: When Bloomberg gets a bunch of nonprofits together in a room what message does he give them?  Does he even bother to be subtle?  Which burns more, Bloomberg's connection with the FIRE or the ICE sectors of the economy, and what the heck is ICE anyway?  What tools has Bloomberg used to eliminate his opponents and how ruthless is he?  What about the New York Times?  Who are the candidates for mayor who are not taking money from real estate developers and might there be other candidates who would like to do so but have been cut off?  Has the press been keeping track of Bloomberg's wealth?- Do they even know what it is?  Did Bloomberg actually lose $4 billion in a matter of months?  Why would, or wouldn't, it be fair to compare Bloomberg to Corzine, the rich governor across the river?  How is Bloomberg following in the footsteps of llinois ex-Governor Ron  Blagojevich?  What else is new withe the Bloomberg adminstration on the quid-pro-quo front?  What's peculiar and special but out of proportion about a new, recently breaking Bloomberg adminstration ethics scandal?  What makes the Bloomberg administration's governance of New York like Rome's sacking of Carthage?

And the Very Most Recent Update (based on just one week's worth of stories)

Sunday, April 19, 2009

Keeping up with Bloomberg and Friends: Stark New Scandals and Is it True WSJ Readers Don't Commit Murder?

What's to learn just from the events of the past week: If you are a Wall Street friend of Michael Bloomberg's how long is the list of things you can't be accused of doing and how many of the deadly sins are on it?  And what about Madoff and friends? How has a recently breaking Bloomberg administration ethics scandal just become immensely more interesting and complicated and who's lawyering up?  Want to know about lawyer Randy Mastro?  What's a major story the New York press is missing?  How do Bloomberg high commissioner's misdeeds mirror Bloomberg's own conduct?  What should you know about nepotism in the Bloomberg administration?  What Giuliani-delivered perk was a certain Bloomberg, LP employee taking advantage of and how is that relevant to the way the Bloomberg administration now runs the city?  What does the Cuomo SEC investigation of Alan Hevesi have to do with investment of Bloomberg's personal billions and the ways Bloomberg was supposed to be ethical?  What political rising star might just have made a bad mistake by endorsing Bloomberg?

And Don't Forget Our Favorite Two Quick Reference Pieces:

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Bloomberg's Increasing Annual Wealth: 1996 to 2008

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Bloomberg's Annual Levels Of Charitable Giving

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Examiner.com: Bloomberg wants to run both ways, left and right

This comes from Examiner.com:

On Friday, Bloomberg aides leaked that the mayor, who was twice elected as a Republican, but recently dropped all party affiliation was courting the support of the city's five Republican county chairs to support him in an effort to seek a third term later this year as a Republican. The Democrat turned Republican turned independent would need the support of at least three of the five county chairs to even run in a GOP Primary. Sources said that he will meet with all five county chairs on February 25 in a final effort to court their support, after which a decision would be announced.

But a report in today's Daily News says that the mayor is also seeking to run on the Working Families Party line, a labor-oriented party that generally leans to the left of Democrats.

The mayor is "welcome to apply" for the labor-backed Working Families Party line, said Dan Cantor, its executive director.

Still, Cantor called it "the longest of long shots."

Read more here.

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DePaolo: Hugo and Mike

The following was written by Phil De Paolo:

President Hugo Chavez won a voter referendum to eliminate term limits yesterday. 54 percent had voted for the constitutional amendment, 46 percent had voted against it. The vote was hastily arranged in the last two months. The campaigning was marked by antigovernment protests and attacks by supporters of Mr. Chávez on institutions viewed as critical of the president, including media organizations.

In NYC Mayor Bloomberg scrapped the city's term limit law in a little over two weeks. He's used the city council to pass a bill that would allow him to seek four more years in office. On October 23, 2

008 the City Council voted 29-22 in favor of extending the term limit to three consecutive four year terms, thus allowing both Bloomberg and council members in their second terms to run for office again. New Yorkers were upset by the Mayor's actions and the 29 City Council people who voted for the extension of term limits. Whether they were for term limits or not they strongly believe that the process was wrong. If there was to be a change, it had to be via a public referendum not by legislation. By an overwhelming margin, 89 percent to 7 percent, voter say the issue of term limits should be decided by voters in a referendum, not by an act of the Council.
“Voters to City Council: We voted for term limits twice and, if it’s going to change, it should be us not you who decide it,” said Maurice Carroll, director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.

Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez gestures as he leaves the polling station

Chavez opponents claim that the results were skewed by Chavez's broad use of resources to get out the vote, through news media and pressure on 2 million public employees. Mr. Chávez threw the weight of institutions controlled by his supporters, including the National Assembly and the entire federal bureaucracy, behind the proposal. The powerful national oil company, and the national telephone company mobilized employees to campaign for the measure.

Opponents say Chavez already has far too much power, with the courts, the legislature and the election council all under his influence. Removing the presidential term limit, they s

ay, makes him unstoppable.

In NYC Mayor Bloomberg held conversations with Rupert Murdoch, Who owns The New York Post; Mortimer B. Zuckerman, a close friend and the owner of The Daily News; and Arthur Sulzberger Jr., publisher 

of The Times, to help him overturn term limits. Days later the New York Post and the Daily News, both ran editorials under the headline "Run, Mike, Run" that called for changing the rules so that Mr. Bloomberg could stand for re election. And the New York Times complained that the term limits law "is particularly unappealing now because it would deny New Yorkers at a time when the city's economy is under great stress the right to decide for themselves whether an effective and popular mayor should stay in office."

The paper took the opposite view seven years ago, when there was talk of extending the second term of Mr. Bloomberg's predecessor, Rudy Giuliani, in the wake of 9/11. "To suggest that the city would be incapable of getting along without Mr. Giuliani undermines New York's sense of self sufficiency," said the Times. "While Mr. Giuliani has been a great leader during this crisis, the truth is that no one is indispensable.

Mayor Bloomberg then showered cash on key City Council members with the power to kill the term limits extension bill. Members of the council's Government Operations Committee received millions from Bloomberg’s slush fund, a secret pot of taxpayer money the mayor doled out to favored lawmakers for their pet causes. Five members of the committee secured $3.1 million from the $5.3 million stash in Bloomberg's 2008 budget.

The New York Times reported days after the Term Limits debate that the Mayor and his top deputies had pressed social service, arts and neighborhood groups that received donations from Mr. Bloomberg to express support for his third term bid by testifying during public hearings and by personally appealing to undecided members of the City Council. A few days later the mayor’s aides organized a press conference in which nearly a dozen union leaders endorsed the legislation to extend term limits. Fifteen minutes before the event began, the union leaders met inside City Hall with Edward Skyler, the deputy mayor for operations, to discuss what they would say, according to people briefed on the matter. When they emerged to speak to reporters, the labor officials sounded strikingly similar themes, at times using the same words. So it seems that Hugo and Mike used many of the same methods to get what they wanted although Hugo actually let the people vote on it. Mayor Bloomberg just used the City Council.

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Mole333: Defeating Bloomberg and the Bloomberg 29

Mole's Progressive Democrat posted Defeating Bloomberg and the Bloomberg 29 which has a lot of information for those who are opposed to the current mayor and his enablers.  

Here's a taste:

I want to also re-introduce you to the Facebook site dedicated to defeating Tsar Bloomberg and the Bloomberg 29:

Here is their statement of purpose:

On October 23, 2008 the New York City Council passed Mayor Bloomberg's proposal that extended term limits from 2 terms to 3 terms for the Mayor, City Council, and other city officials without a voter referendum even though New Yorkers voted in 1993 and 1996 to keep term limits at 2 terms. The final vote was 29 YES and 22 NO.

According to a Quinnipiac poll, 89% of New Yorkers believe that the issue of term limits should be decided by voters in a referendum, not by an act by the City Council.

To read more (including opinions about some notable City Council races), click here. 

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Rob Caloras on Bloomberg

NYC Public School Parents posted an article called Rob Caloras on Bloomberg's authoritarian arrogance:

At a recent press conference, Mayor Bloomberg stated that people who want to change the school governance law are either irrational or putting their own self interest ahead of students. On his radio show he said that, there would be riots in the streets if his control over the schools is not continued.

For the full article, click here. 

Room 8 parodied this radio show at a cryptic post, TOP 10 OTHER THINGS MAYOR BLOOMBERG THINKS MIGHT CAUSE RIOTS IN THE STREETS.

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An Orthodox blogger questions Bloomberg: Miffed by "Ridiculous" Question

What's this? Vos Iz Neias, a self-described voice of the Orthodox Jewish Community, challenges Bloomberg's logic in Bloomberg Miffed by "Ridiculous" Question:

We're facing tough times. The mayor is a great philanthropist. He's supported many charitable causes. The other day, he promised the bishop of Brooklyn to consider a plan to convert four parochial schools threatened with being closed into public charter schools.

But it is hardly ridiculous to ask whether this man should flaunt his wealth in the political arena. he has done good for the city. He has also exhibited great hubris and if he truly believes in a democratic system, he should be willing to accept legal limits on campaign expenditures.

You have fans out there, Mr. Mayor, and critics. Are you afraid to test your achievements on a level playing field?

For more, click here. 

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Support for Bloomberg at 59%, down from 68%

There is a ton of coverage of the new Marist poll that puts Bloomberg's support at 59%, down from a recent level of 68%. Here's a selected list:

• AP/Newsday ~ Poll: Bloomberg approval at 3-year low
  
• SI Advance ~ Michael Bloomberg's approval rating down 9 percent: Mayor Michael Bloomberg's approval ratings have dropped by almost double digits in the last seven weeks, likely the result of a nose-diving economy and a controversial term limits bill he pushed through City Council, results of a Marist College poll released today indicate.
  
• CNN Political Ticker: Bloomberg approval rating takes a hit
  (currently one of the top national stories)
  
• NY Times: Bloomberg’s Approval Rating Slips in Poll (of the 46 comments as of this moment, 44 were critical of Bloomberg's term limits move)
  
• Yonkers Tribune: NYC Voters Disagree With Term Limit Extension
  
• NY1, Reuters, Crain's, NY Observer, et cetera, et cetera

Also, the Daily News analyzes the Working Family Party's claims of electoral victory, partially based their strong stance against Bloomberg's term extension. They also write about Anthony Weiner taking the high road.

Whew! Much more ink and many more pixels will be spilled on this, especially since there are national implications. The Guardian reports about one of Obama's new appointees, Patrick Gaspard:

Gaspard played a crucial role in SEIU's decision to come out against New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg in his bid to overturn term-limits rules and run for re-election, according to the Daily News report.

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Benevolent billionaire with no political debts ended up owning us all

The Village Voice published an article worth reading about the first and second terms of the Bloomberg administration. Here's a flavor:

The Bloomberg who came into office as the anti-politician, promising to transform city government, has been transformed himself. Some of us liked him precisely because his wealth insulated him from the kind of horsetrading that diminished his predecessors. But seven years later, Bloomberg has not only proved himself to be a master politician, as hungry for power as anyone we've ever seen, but he's also ended up putting nearly everyone who deals with the city deep into his political debt.

article >>

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The need for "consistent leaders"... and persistant bloggers

At Room 8, Oneshirt lays into the City Council and friends in "Was the Lie of 'Consistent Leadership' Old Media’s Last Stand." The post criticizes the argument made by the main New York papers and politicians that continuing the current leadership is somehow good and necessary. For Oneshirt, this is a prime example of why bloggers are becoming the new heroes of our fine city's democracy:

Only the city’s bloggers like Your Free Press, Pardon Me For Asking, The Brooklyn Optimist, The Daily Gotham, Queens Crap, and Washington Square Park reported to their readers during the term limits debate that the Council’s argument for continuity of leadership to save the city’s economy was nothing more than public relations spin to cover the Council’s blatant power grab for an additional term in office. At the same time these citizen journalists across the City were reporting the real facts, the Mayor was meeting with the publishers of the three major dailies to coordinate a cover story for his support of extending term limits.

One of these bloggers/journalists, Rafael Martinez-Alequin, is fighting to keep his press pass. He is being represented by Norman Siegel.


article >>

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Bloomberg and the 29 didn't listen to you...but the internets will

There's a new website dedicated to the Bloomberg 29—that is, the City Council Members that voted to give the mayor a third term. You can visit it at bloomberg29.webs.com and see snazzy graphics like this:

And what would any movement be without t-shirts? You can pick them up at cafepress.com/bloomberg29.

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First Term Limits Lawsuit Court Appearance

Here is a press release from the office of Council Member Bill de Blasio:

Tomorrow, plaintiffs and co-counsel Randy Mastro, Norman Siegel and Pieter Van Tol in the lawsuit against the newly enacted law extending term limits, filed last Monday in the Eastern District of New York, will make their first court appearance. The court appearance is scheduled for 2pm and will be a scheduling conference at which the attorneys filing the suit will ask Judge Charles P. Sifton to set a schedule for the resolution of the merits of the case.

What: First term limits lawsuit court appearance.

Who: Plaintiffs; Co-Counsel Randy Mastro, Norman Siegel and Pieter Van Tol.

When: Wednesday, November 19th, 2:00PM

Where: The Federal Courthouse for the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York, Courtroom 6-A. The Courthouse is located in Downtown Brooklyn at 225 Cadman Plaza East.

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ChangeNYC.org on term limits

ChangeNYC.Org is a newly announced website working to "unify our City’s Democratic Party by welcoming all New Yorkers back into the political process." Here is what they have to say about term limits:

In New York City, there is only one political party with any real power: the Democratic Party. It controls almost every single elected office in the five boroughs and sets the City’s policies practically unopposed. As Democrats, you would think that would make for an ideal government. But, as we all know, New York City’s government is far from perfect.

The problem is that the comfort of one-party rule has let our City’s Democratic leaders settle into a pattern of indifference to the people’s concerns, dangerous inaction, and, all too often, corruption.

Our City’s elected officials and political bosses deliberately keep our government dysfunctional to preserve and advance their own interests. The clearest example of this self-serving agenda is the City Council’s recent vote to extend term limits. New Yorkers had voted twice in the past fifteen years to have term limits, and there was no reason to believe we had changed our minds. In fact, just two days before the Council voted to treat themselves to another four years in office, 89 percent of New Yorkers polled said that they opposed the Council’s power grab.

website >>

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Term limits and mayoral control over schools

There was an anti-mayoral control of schools rally that took place at City Hall which sparked several articles:

• The Daily News just published "Foes vow to loosen mayor Michael Bloomberg grip on schools."
  
  
• This was followed up by a blog posting with video by Elizabeth Benjamin of the News.
  
  
• The Gotham Gazette published Choosing Sides in the Fight Over Schools
  
  
• Gotham Schools published Weiner says extending term limits will hurt mayoral control back on October 30
  

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Blog round-up of Bloomberg term-limit coverage

Here are this weekend's collection of screeds against Bloomberg:

• In Mayor's Dangerous Slippery Slope, the The Neighborhood Retail Alliance asks about Bloomberg, "With a white knight like this, who could be frightened of a really malevolent leader?"
  
  
• Roughed-up protester wins thousands! reports on protesters illegally detained during the 2004 Republican National Convention
  
  
• NYC Mayor Bloomberg~Bilderberg covers the new anti-Bloomberg coalition living up to the handle "It's all Dark News, it has to be."
  

While many blog (like this one) on re-hash news, Rock Hackshaw continues to write original analysis based on a very long memory. In Vann, Fidler and Comrie (Part Two), he asks some questions that go to the heart of the term limit debate:

What projects have you (as electeds) failed to complete that necessitate the extension? Also; why did you fail to complete them?

article >>

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Team Bloomberg vs. Team Obama

Bloomberg's team is being picked at by two sides. The city budget crisis makes deals tougher for the mayor, but several City Hall folks are angling for Obama jobs. The Daily News writes about it in Team Michael Bloomberg in a bit of team chaos:

At least one of Bloomberg's top commissioners may be plucked for high-level duty in President-elect Barack Obama's administration, and others are enjoying the speculation that they might. One of his top jobs sits empty, with no obvious candidate, and everyone planning for a five-year future has to do it quietly.

On the other hand:

"There's a more palpable tension right now," said City Councilman Lew Fidler (D-Brooklyn), who supported Bloomberg on extending term limits and is now fighting him on eliminating the $400 tax rebate. "The alliances are shifting."

article >>

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The Mayor, The Times’ Timing, and a Proper Ordering

In The Mayor, The Times’ Timing, and a Proper Ordering, Noticing New York posts detailed analysis about the NY Times editorials regarding term limits. The article suggests some buyer's remorse by the Times in their support of Bloomberg's term extension, and it paints an unseemly picture of Bloomberg:

We do not know exactly what makes a wealthy man like Bloomberg tick. He may be wealthier beyond any need to be richer. He can’t eat any better and he is at that “What can you buy that you can't already afford?” stage (See: Tuesday, November 4, 2008, Remembering; Not Forgetting in Chinatown). The Mayor’s attraction to power is out in the open, given that he was recently willing to pay such a high price to stay in power. Some explanation is likely to be found in the way funds flow through the Mayor’s charities. The Mayor may claim by not taking campaign funds he owes nobody anything. But we have observed that the way he uses charities to accept and intermingle funds from developers points to quid pro quo obligations. It presents situations that are a challenge to distinguish from old-fashioned kickback behavior.

article >>

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Letter from Butiama: Bloomberg should have been Tanzanian

The Tanzanian Standard Newspapers are not very impressed with Mayor Bloomberg's leadership record:

There is no shortage of lecturers from the developed world who do not miss an opportunity to lecture leaders and governments in the developing world people to respect regulations governing term limits.

But following the recent amendment of the New York City’s term limits law by Mayor Michael Bloomberg that will extend term limits and allow him and fellow councillors to seek a third four-year term in 2009 who will continue to argue that the urge to remain in office is an affliction of the developing world only?

article >>

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Rock on Vann, Fidler and Comrie

Rock Hachshaw is a person with a long memory. He just posted about Al Vann, Leroy Comrie and Lew Fidler— "all three voted for the vomitable extension bill"— and here is a bit:

Leroy Comrie had raised $211,624 from 683 people. This money was for his re-election to the council in 2005. I also exposed the fact that he had spent $193,629 of this money, and still had some other outstanding liabilities at that point. What was striking to me was the fact that Leroy Comrie had no primary opponent. He also had no challenger for the general election. As far as my recollection goes, his name appeared on the Democratic, Republican and Working Families Party lines. He may have even been placed on the Independent Party line for all you know. I found this disgraceful. He spent all this money for what purpose?

Rock gives a brief overview of all three of their long, long careers, and concludes:

My point is this: if elected officials are given significant times in office, but still fail to solve or resolve problems/issues; then why should their terms be extended?

article >>

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Bloomberg keeps The Angry New Yorker busy

The Angry New Yorker has many posts to add to the rants about Bloomberg's term limit extensions. Here are a couple:

• Bring in the Feds
  
  
• Term Limit Flip Flopper tries to explain herself.

And this one isn't on term limits, but it is about Bloomberg:

• Bloomberg: Let’s Cut NYC until it Burns

The City That Never Sleeps should probably be renamed The City With Bloggers That Never Sleep.

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