Thursday, October 16, 2008

Say goodnight to Gracie, Mike!



Apparently Gracie Mansion is so comfortable, posh, and well located that no one ever wants to leave it. Okay, fine, so Giuliani was forced to move out and Bloomberg has never lived there, but it made a fun metaphor. Bloomberg, like Giuliani before him, is trying to circumvent the rules that the people laid down for the Mayor of New York by extending his time in office.
Giuliani, as you may recall, wanted a three-month extension of his mayorality so that he could "ease that transition" of power after the Sept. 11th attacks. He also suggested that the term limits imposed just a decade before be repealed. Fortunately, neither effort came to pass.
Now Bloomberg is fighting to overturn the term limits (imposed in 1993 as section 50 of the city charter). His argument is that as a billionaire and Wall Street guru, he is exactly what the city needs to pull it out of the recent economic collapse.
He had his eight years to make sure that the city was financially sound, why does he need more? Oh, and wasn't it big Wall Street financial gurus who got us into the economic mess we're in in the first place?
Really, keep the term limits. They're good for democracy, and good for New York.