WOW!
Council Votes, 29 to 22, to Extend Term Limits
I've seen some ballsy, brazen, outrageous things in my time, and we New Yorkers aren't known to be shrinking violets, but this just amazes me in its arrogance and shamelessness. It stuns me. After the people of this city voted for it by referendum twice, and after polls showed that nine out of ten New Yorkers DID NOT want them to do this, the city council went ahead and amended the term limits law. Now all city officials can serve three consecutive terms instead of two. The city council just changed the law, against the will of the people, to preserve their own jobs and those of their fellow city politicians, Mayor Bloomberg most of all.
They did it ... because they could.
Oh, I know the counterargument. "Nobody has to vote for Bloomberg or any of these people. You can vote against them. It's possible they might all lose. It's just giving the people another choice. It's more democracy, not less."
Please.
This is the kinda crap Bloomberg and his supporters have been arguing and it's totally dishonest. What they're really saying is, "we like power and want to keep it." The city council wouldn't have passed this bill if they thought they'd all lose. Incumbents in this town below the Mayoral level almost never lose unless they get indicted or caught shtuping a dead woman or a live boy. And Bloomberg, he'll just go through the pillows on his couch and and pull out another $100 million to buy a third mayoral election. Does anyone have a chance against him and his vast resources? Come on!!
Mike, the "indispensable" Mayor, the only man qualified and capable of being mayor of this town. Gimme a break!
This is a sad, sad day in NYC. No, it's not 9/11, no one died here and I'm not going to claim that democracy died today either. It just took a vicious hit.
The ironic thing is that I was always against the term limits law and voted against it in 1996. But guess what? My side lost! The will of the people had spoken! And now the city council said that the will of the people isn't really that important, not if it gets in the way of saving their jobs and the political class. So they just ignored it ... because they could.
Council Votes, 29 to 22, to Extend Term Limits
I've seen some ballsy, brazen, outrageous things in my time, and we New Yorkers aren't known to be shrinking violets, but this just amazes me in its arrogance and shamelessness. It stuns me. After the people of this city voted for it by referendum twice, and after polls showed that nine out of ten New Yorkers DID NOT want them to do this, the city council went ahead and amended the term limits law. Now all city officials can serve three consecutive terms instead of two. The city council just changed the law, against the will of the people, to preserve their own jobs and those of their fellow city politicians, Mayor Bloomberg most of all.
They did it ... because they could.
Oh, I know the counterargument. "Nobody has to vote for Bloomberg or any of these people. You can vote against them. It's possible they might all lose. It's just giving the people another choice. It's more democracy, not less."
Please.
This is the kinda crap Bloomberg and his supporters have been arguing and it's totally dishonest. What they're really saying is, "we like power and want to keep it." The city council wouldn't have passed this bill if they thought they'd all lose. Incumbents in this town below the Mayoral level almost never lose unless they get indicted or caught shtuping a dead woman or a live boy. And Bloomberg, he'll just go through the pillows on his couch and and pull out another $100 million to buy a third mayoral election. Does anyone have a chance against him and his vast resources? Come on!!
Mike, the "indispensable" Mayor, the only man qualified and capable of being mayor of this town. Gimme a break!
This is a sad, sad day in NYC. No, it's not 9/11, no one died here and I'm not going to claim that democracy died today either. It just took a vicious hit.
The ironic thing is that I was always against the term limits law and voted against it in 1996. But guess what? My side lost! The will of the people had spoken! And now the city council said that the will of the people isn't really that important, not if it gets in the way of saving their jobs and the political class. So they just ignored it ... because they could.
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