BORED WITH THE idea of running his new charitable foundation and even more bored at the thought of running for governor and spending more time in podunk Albany (What? you think he’d actually move there?), Michael Bloomberg announced last week that he plans to run for a third stint as Mayor of New York when his current term expires at the end of 2009. But there’s just one small catch—the city has a law that bars most elected officials from serving more than two terms.What’s more is that this law was put in place directly by the people of New York City, who voted by referendum in 1993 and 1996 in favor of term limits.
Whatevah. Voters can be such haters sometimes; and besides, Bloomie is worth like $20 billion—certainly there isn’t anyone more qualified to lead us through this shit show of an economy than him. But before we all pass the Courvoisier and toast his victory, you might be interested to know just how Bloomberg plans to get around that pesky little term-limit law. First, he doesn’t plan to hold a referendum that would give voters the opportunity to decide whether or not to abolish the current law. Nope, he wants the City Council to merely change the limit to three terms instead of two.Will the Council do so? Seeing as the second benefit of changing the law would also allow City Council members to serve three terms, and City Council Speaker Christine Quinn already says she supports it, I’m gonna go out on a limb and say yes. But what about the city’s ever-vigilant press, you might ask? Won’t they see right through these shenanigans and expose Bloomberg and the Council for the selfserving wanksters they are, leading to an outcry of public disapproval? As Dionne, Elton, Gladys and Stevie once said, “That’s what friends are for.” The owners of the New York Post and the New York Daily News, Rupert Murdoch and Mortimer Zuckerman, have both publicly endorsed a third term for their friend and fellow billionaire and—surprise, surprise—so have both their respective newspapers. Meanwhile, the New York Times, published by longtime Bloomie supporter Arthur Sulzberger, has also endorsed the plan to circumvent the voters and allow the Council to amend the current law. Richard Parsons, Soul Brotha Number One and former CEO of Time Warner (you know, the multimedia company that owns everything), let it be known in the pages of the Times that he was behind Bloomberg. And let’s not forget Ronald Lauder,a billionaire media mogul who in the 1990s spent $4 million of his own loot on the campaigns in support of term limits; his endorsement of Mayor Mike’s plan was an
nounced in, of course, the Post.What’s remarkable is that not only did each of these Ballers/Shot Callers proclaim their positions within a few days of each other, but they all had the same exact message: Only Michael Bloomberg can provide the kind of steady leadership needed to guide the city through the economic troubles rocking the nation.
Puh-leaze. Now don’t get me wrong; it’s not like I doubt Bloomberg’s intentions. I admire the leadership he’s provided in the arenas of public health, the environment and non-partisan solutions to common problems. And I do believe that he genuinely wants to help the city deal with the current economic woes. But let’s face it:When’s the last time you saw the words “affordable housing” and “in Manhattan” in the same sentence and didn’t laugh out loud? Bloomberg has had seven years to devise a plan to meet the city’s urgent need for affordable housing and, as my bank account will attest, he still has yet to do so. Given that the problems on Wall Street—which will soon bite us all in our collective asses—are all connected to problems in the housing market, I don’t exactly have a lot of confidence that Bloomie is indeed the best person for the job. But beyond the mayor’s record is how he and his billionaire buddies are going about this process. Now I have no problem with anyone disagreeing with the idea of term limits, but I do have a big problem with the Billionaire Boys Club using their control of the city’s major media outlets to snowball the public into accepting an entirely backroom effort to keep one of their own firmly planted inside City Hall.And of course Bloomberg will win if he is allowed to run again—not only do incumbent mayors have an 88 percent re-election rate nationwide, but the man has more money than Pharaoh.That’s exactly the kind of entrenched power voters sought to corral when they approved the term-limits law in the first place.
Look, I get it: The holiday season will soon be upon us, and it must be hard buying gifts for your friends when they already own their own jets. But just because you don’t know what to get the boy who has everything doesn’t mean you get to buy him a third term as mayor.
I HAVE A PROBLEM WITH THE BILLIONAIRE BOYS CLUB USING THEIR CONTROL OF THE CITY’S MEDIA TO SNOWBALL THE PUBLIC INTO THIS...
