A politician has changed his mind about term limits.
Over the years, Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York City has often expressed firm support for the city’s two-term limit on officials. But lately his comments about term limits have been getting fuzzier.
And now the newspapers report that the mayor openly supports a unilateral revision by the city council to weaken the limits from two terms to three.
The change would have to be unilateral. Bloomberg is a popular mayor, but his own polling shows that most New Yorkers, although they may like him, would dislike any weakening of the term limits law.
New Yorkers passed the two-term limit in 1993. They confirmed their support in 1996. Bloomberg and city councilors will be showing an extraordinary contempt for the voters if they dictatorially trash term limits to cling to power.
The bad news gets worse, alas.
Ronald Lauder, the billionaire who financed the term-limits drive in 1993, now says he supports a third term for Bloomberg, and supports bypassing voters.
Lauder contends that in these trying financial times, it is just too risky to let anyone else man the helm. Funny, though, how the city managed to carry on in the wake of 9/11, letting Mayor Giuliani step down. That was a worse mess.
But then, the mess may be in the eye of the incumbent.
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.