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.

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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?

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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."

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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.

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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?

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