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Last Updated: Oct 28th, 2008 - 17:57:18 |
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Mayor Michael Bloomberg introduced a bill on Tuesday that would change the city's term-limits law and allow him to seek four more years in office to help New York cope with the sweeping economic crisis.
Bloomberg, a former Wall Street trader and self-made billionaire, is seeking a permanent change in the law to raise the limits to three four-year terms from two for mayor, the 51-member City Council and other elected officials.
Bloomberg says his Wall Street experience would be invaluable when the city is bracing for lean times. Tens of thousands of high-paying financial jobs are being lost and the impact is likely to spread through many layers of the city economy.
Bloomberg was first elected in 2001, and his second term expires in 2009.
The mayor's office formally introduced the legislation before the City Council, where 35 members face ouster next year under current term limits. Approval would require a simple majority in the council.
Public hearings are set for October 16 and 17, and a vote could come by the end of the month.
Critics argue the issue should be put directly to city voters, who already voted for term limits in 1993 and in 1996.
Two alternatives to Bloomberg's proposal were also presented on Tuesday -- one calling for a special voter referendum next spring and the other asking the state legislature to set up a voter referendum.
One critic of Bloomberg's proposal, Democratic Councilman Bill de Blasio, who supports a voter referendum, said there was a gathering storm of opposition to the mayor's bill.
"We're seeing more and more voices coming out and saying this is patently unacceptable to have a group of rich men try and dictate to the people of the city what our government will look like," de Blasio said.
A roster of the rich and powerful lined up behind the mayor. Last week, 30 of New York's elite, including David Rockefeller, former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and JPMorgan Chase Chief Executive Jamie Dimon, published an open letter urging the council to extend the term limits.
Bloomberg has said he thinks a City Council vote is the only viable option so close to the November 2009 mayoral election and that a special voter referendum could be impractical or illegal.
Bloomberg was on a visit to London on Tuesday, and his office and supporters in the Council handled the bill's formal introduction.
Other opponents to Bloomberg's proposal want to see a one-time exemption, rather than a permanent change, to the term-limits law.
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