Unions Split on Bloomberg's Try for 3rd; Object to Lack of Referendum

Mayor Bloomberg's decision to ask the City Council to pass a bill permitting him to seek a third term left labor leaders divided, with some pleased that he could continue in office while others accused him of making an end-run around voters who twice previously backed referendums to limit city officials to eight years in office.

The Chief-Leader/Pat Arnow MAN IN THE SPOTLIGHT: Mayor Bloomberg exits the news conference where he announced his controversial plan to seek a third term without a voter referendum to amend the Term Limits Law. Looking on at the rear is Edward Skyler, one of three Deputy Mayors who advised against his taking this course.

The bill was scheduled to be introduced Oct. 7, the day this newspaper hit the stands. It appears likely that it will have enough support within the Council, where 35 of the 51 members would otherwise have to leave office at the end of next year, to be approved and then signed into law by the Mayor.

Usurping Voters' Prerogative?

Good-government organizations including Citizens Union and the New York Public Interest Research Group have protested that the bill usurps the right of the voters to decide whether there should be a change to the Term Limits Law, which they approved in 1993 and then reaffirmed in a 1996 referendum that sought modifications.

RANDI WEINGARTEN: Questions Mayor's method.

 

 

 

During the City Hall press conference Oct. 2 announcing his plan to seek a third term, Mr. Bloomberg — who in the past had called a similar attempt to extend term limits from eight to 12 years "disgusting" — insisted the voters were not being deprived of their voice, since they would ultimately decide whether to elect him to another term in November 2009.

City Council Speaker Christine Quinn told reporters at a subsequent press conference that this was one of three acceptable options — the third one being a modification of the law by the State Legislature — permitted under the City Charter. She said that if the bill became law, she would abandon her own plans to run for Mayor and seek another term as a Manhattan Council Member with an eye toward retaining her post as Speaker.

WILLIAM C. THOMPSON: 'Undermining democracy.'

UFT Head's Reservations

United Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten, who said that she had suspected the Mayor might seek a new term since April, when a story about the prospect appeared in the New York Post, expressed reservations about the way in which he was doing it.

She released a statement saying she was "grateful" that the Mayor was willing to stay on to possibly deal with a troubled economy, but added, "I am very concerned, given that New Yorkers have twice spoken about this issue in referendums, and because of that, I think the most democratic way to change term limits is to go back to the people."

Sources had said in mid-September that Ms. Weingarten was considering embarking on a campaign with the Working Families Party to ensure that any change in term limits was done by referendum. Before that effort got started, however, editorials from the New York Times, Daily News and New York Post — whose publishers Mr. Bloomberg sought out on the subject during the summer — provided the impetus for him to announce he was going forward without a referendum.

ANTHONY WEINER: 'An inside deal.'

Waiting on Union Delegates

Ms. Weingarten, who emphasized in a phone interview that she had always been opposed to term limits — ''I think for a lot of the right reasons'' — said she wanted to wait for a UFT Delegate Assembly meeting, which has been moved up a week to Oct. 15 to deal with the issue, before deciding on a course of action.

She said when she first raised the possibility at an April meeting with her delegates in response to the Post story, "People were so disbelieving. Nobody wanted to take it seriously — they seemed to think I had lost my mind."

Several other municipal union leaders did not return calls seeking a reaction to the Mayor's move, but Communications Workers of America Local 1180 President Arthur Cheliotes did not hesitate to brand the plan an affront to democracy.

ARTHUR CHELIOTES: Mayor's money moves mountains.

Asserting that the momentum for the change had been created by the Mayor in tandem with a handful of newspaper executives and business leaders, Mr. Cheliotes said, "It's very self-serving. We need to understand who runs the city: it's the consent of the governed."

Teamsters Local 237 Gregory Floyd expressed similar sentiments in a more-conciliatory fashion.

"We've enjoyed a nice, warm relationship with Mayor Bloomberg," he said in an Oct. 6 phone interview. "He is popular, and if put the right way, he probably could win a third term."

But noting the two previous referendums governing term limits, Mr. Floyd said, "We think the citizens of New York should be asked a third time and see if they've changed their minds." Doing it without a referendum, he continued, means "their opinion does not count, and that is a very disturbing thing."

Trades-Union Heads Like Mike

On the other hand, the AFL-CIO New York City Central Labor Council has opted not to take a position on the proposed change in term limits because more than a few private-sector trades-union leaders welcome the prospect of another term in office for Mr. Bloomberg because of both his business acumen and the construction boom that has occurred during his first seven years in office.

GREGORY FLOYD: A 'disturbing' way to do it.

Two of the men considered leading contenders for the Democratic nomination for Mayor, City Comptroller William C. Thompson Jr. and U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner, criticized Mr. Bloomberg's seeking a third term without a voter referendum to permit it, and said they planned to continue their campaigns.

"Making changes to term limits legislatively is wrong — it undermines democracy," Mr. Thompson said a day prior to the Mayor's announcement, after published reports had trumpeted his intentions.

Mr. Weiner held a press conference shortly after Mr. Bloomberg's in which he called the Council bill "the quintessential inside deal between two ends of City Hall, substituting for the judgment that people made in two referendums. Nobody that supports doing this this way can ever again say that they're for open government, that they're for reform and that they're for doing government the right way."

Gotbaum: 'A Slap At Voters'

Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum, who is considered less likely to run for Mayor, said that "extending term limits by anything other than a public vote [is] an insult to the democratic process and a slap in the face to New Yorkers."

Mr. Bloomberg, who insisted voters weren't being disenfranchised because they had the option not to choose him in the next mayoral election, had cited the fiscal problems that are likely to grow because of the economic crisis on Wall Street as the driving force behind his decision to seek another term. A day before Congress finally approved $700 billion in aid to prop up the financial services industry here, he described it as "a badly needed, short-term stop-gap measure, but it will by no means make all our problems disappear."

While his administration had anticipated an economic slowdown since last year and hoarded part of a sizable budget surplus to deal with the fallout, Mr. Bloomberg said, "we may be on the verge of a meltdown."

'Things Could Get Worse'

He told reporters that while the city was anticipating a 12-percent drop in tax revenues, it was possible that "things will get a lot worse. I don't think anyone thinks this will get better."

He argued that to cope with the financial problems that will be caused by a precipitous drop in tax revenues from Wall Street salaries and bonuses while also maintaining vital services, his management skills would be vital.

Talking about priorities including improving the schools, "greening the environment," repairing the city's infrastructure and continuing its ambitious housing program, the Mayor said, "Yes, we do have more to do, a lot more. I care deeply about sustaining the progress we've made — and finishing the job voters elected me to do."

Asked why he was not seeking the change through a referendum, Mr. Bloomberg said he had made the decision too late to get the issue considered as part of the Nov. 4 ballot, and rejected the idea of placing it before the voters in February as part of the special election that would be held to fill any vacated City Council seats.

'Can't Get It on Ballot'

When one reporter questioned whether he was "afraid of a referendum," the Mayor responded, "No. There's just not an opportunity at this point to put it on the ballot."

While Mr. Bloomberg said he did not believe he was "indispensable," civil rights lawyer Norman Siegel contended he was certainly acting like it.

"There's no one better than Mike Bloomberg to watch the money of the City of New York," Mr. Siegel said. "But let the next Mayor appoint him as financial czar." The claim that no other potential mayoral candidate could steer the city through treacherous fiscal waters, Mr. Siegel said, was "hogwash."

He is preparing to file a lawsuit challenging the use of a Council bill to change the Term Limits Law, even though he conceded that a 1961 state Court of Appeals ruling in a Buffalo case permitting a legislative body to amend a law created by referendum would make success an uphill climb.

Former Mayor Ed Koch, who has already proclaimed his support for a third Bloomberg term, said there was "nothing sacred" about deciding the term limits issue by referendum and that if residents feel differently, "they will vote against him. I don't think it will happen because I think people are delighted that he wants to run."

Didn't Do It for Rudy

Mr. Cheliotes pointed out that there was strong sentiment from some business leaders that Rudy Giuliani's term should be extended by three months in the wake of 9/11, but that ultimately even that crisis had not prompted a change in the Term Limits Law without voter input. But he also conceded that Mr. Bloomberg, aided by the editorial support he has already received, had the resources to influence public opinion to overcome the misgivings many citizens have expressed about a change in the law.

"We all know the reality of the power of his money," the Local 1180 leader said. "It can do a lot. He's been very generous, but it can also facilitate a lot of people being on his side who are not his natural constituents."