Michael Bloomberg disgusting display of power

[Navy1960]

It isn’t just that Mr. Bloomberg inched away from a position that he once cast as an inviolable principle. He did a complete 180. We’re talking, of course, about term limits for the mayor and other senior elected officials, including the 51 members of the City Council.

As you know, New York voters twice passed referendums limiting those officials to two consecutive terms. No one benefited more from the plebiscites than Mr. Bloomberg. Without them, we might well still be talking about Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani. So supposedly sacred was the people’s voice to Mr. Bloomberg that he used to proclaim, “We cannot ignore their will,” and certainly not by legislative fiat.

But on Thursday, at Mr. Bloomberg’s bidding, a majority of the Council thumbed its nose at the voters and stretched the limit to a third term. The majority was unusually narrow for a Council vote, 29 to 22, reflecting the emotional, intellectual and political ferment over the issue.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/24/nyregion/24nyc.html

This is a digusting display of usurping the will of the voters and it is EVERYTHING that wrong with this country. The people we elect in this country serve US not the other way around and serve at OUR pleasure. This along with members of congress ignoring the will of the people on the bailout is just one more reason why term limits need to be enforced .

 

[Modbert]

It isn’t just that Mr. Bloomberg inched away from a position that he once cast as an inviolable principle. He did a complete 180. We’re talking, of course, about term limits for the mayor and other senior elected officials, including the 51 members of the City Council.

As you know, New York voters twice passed referendums limiting those officials to two consecutive terms. No one benefited more from the plebiscites than Mr. Bloomberg. Without them, we might well still be talking about Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani. So supposedly sacred was the people’s voice to Mr. Bloomberg that he used to proclaim, “We cannot ignore their will,” and certainly not by legislative fiat.

But on Thursday, at Mr. Bloomberg’s bidding, a majority of the Council thumbed its nose at the voters and stretched the limit to a third term. The majority was unusually narrow for a Council vote, 29 to 22, reflecting the emotional, intellectual and political ferment over the issue.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/24/nyregion/24nyc.html

This is a digusting display of usurping the will of the voters and it is EVERYTHING that wrong with this country. The people we elect in this country serve US not the other way around and serve at OUR pleasure. This along with members of congress ignoring the will of the people on the bailout is just one more reason why term limits need to be enforced .

Bloomberg will continue to rewrite the rules to fit him. It is disgusting how he is able to do this.

Great post as always Navy.

 

[Navy1960]

Bloomberg will continue to rewrite the rules to fit him. It is disgusting how he is able to do this.

Great post as always Navy.

You know Robert, this kind of thing is just all the more reason why people need to hold the people that represent them to a higher standard. What gives Michael Bloomberg the right to suplant the will of the voters. This man should be recalled for this , and I personally don't care if he paved the streets of Time Square with gold, thats not the point.

 

[Modbert]

You know Robert, this kind of thing is just all the more reason why people need to hold the people that represent them to a higher standard. What gives Michael Bloomberg the right to suplant the will of the voters. This man should be recalled for this , and I personally don't care if he paved the streets of Time Square with gold, thats not the point.

Well I'm not up to date on NY polls as I don't live there. If he was able to run for a third term, would he win according to the polls?

And I bet Guiliani would end up running again at some point if he could have a third term

 

[Navy1960]

Well I'm not up to date on NY polls as I don't live there. If he was able to run for a third term, would he win according to the polls?

And I bet Guiliani would end up running again at some point if he could have a third term

I can't tell you Robert what the polls are in NYC on his chances. I just shake my head at the crap these people get away with now. Don't like what the voters say, thats okay . go to court or go to the City and get them to tell the voters up yours. I often wonder what would happen if they held an election and every single incumbant was voted out , you think congress would somehow, say can we have a do over? lol I'm getting a little tired of these politicians that have no honor and no respect for the people and the office they hold.

 

[elvis]

Bloomberg will continue to rewrite the rules to fit him. It is disgusting how he is able to do this.

Great post as always Navy.

Don't new york mayors have a history of this?

 

[Epsilon Delta]

I've been completely revolted since I read about this a couple of weeks ago. The level of cynicism in this is unbelievable.

New York’s Mayor Bloomberg cites financial crisis in bid for third term

The Mayor, City Council President and numerous other public figures went through verbal contortions explaining why the term limits legislation they had previously backed was suddenly in need of amendment. Bloomberg had earlier said any attempt to circumvent the limits, which had been backed by citywide referendums in both 1993 and 1996, would be "disgusting." Quinn had opposed the idea of changing the rules as recently as last December. Significantly, neither Bloomberg nor his allies are proposing a new referendum to achieve their aim.

The rationale for overturning the law to accommodate Bloomberg's desire for a third term is that only a billionaire like him is prepared to guide the city through the deepening crisis that has been unleashed by the meltdown of the US and global financial system centered in Wall Street. The Bloomberg administration had already announced $1.5 billion in budget cuts, even before the wave of failures, bailouts and buyouts transformed Wall Street's landscape. [...]

In New York, the term limits crusade was spearheaded by another billionaire, cosmetics heir Ronald Lauder, an arch right-winger who ran unsuccessfully in the Republican primary in 1989 and was soon eclipsed by the far more effective right-wing politician Rudy Giuliani. Having failed miserably in his first bid for public office, Lauder sought influence behind the scenes, bankrolling, to the tune of millions of dollars, the successful referendum for term limits in 1993. [...]

Lauder has surfaced once again, having suddenly changed his mind on the issue. A month ago he announced an expensive new advertising campaign to defend term limits against criticism. Now, however, after some behind the scenes meetings with his fellow billionaire Bloomberg, he has at least partly switched sides.

Mr. Lauder is clearly worried over the political and social consequences of this crisis. He wants to reinforce the rule of plutocracy--government of the rich, and not merely for the rich. He wants someone who can be implicitly trusted to understand the needs of the top one-tenth of one percent of the population.

And Lauder speaks for his class. On the same day the Times printed an advertisement in the form of "An Open Letter" signed by 30 New York-based CEOs and their advisors, some of the very same names we have seen presiding over the financial collapse, including Lloyd Blankfein of Goldman Sachs, James Dimon of JP Morgan Chase and John Mack of Morgan Stanley. Calling for "continuity of leadership," these billionaires and multi-millionaires write that "today, all we have achieved is at risk ... we call upon the New York City Council to extend term limits in order to give New Yorkers the opportunity to vote for whomever they think can do the best job during these tough economic times, including our current Mayor." [...]

n order to see how the Mayor has become, despite his own protestations, "indispensable" for the ruling elite, it is necessary to examine the role and record of his administration. Bloomberg, the eighth richest individual in the United States, with a fortune of some $20 billion, was elected to succeed Rudolph Giuliani after the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center. He was called upon to continue the same fundamental policies that had produced a new Gilded Age of unprecedented social polarization in New York and throughout the country.

Bloomberg's task was to execute a shift in style if not in substance. His Wall Street credentials as the founder of the Bloomberg News empire, as well as his mild-mannered moderate persona, following the reactionary provocations of Giuliani, was credited with producing a new era of stability in the city. The ruling elite now convinced itself that it had achieved the best of both worlds--the continuing transfer of wealth to the plutocrats and their milieu, and political calm along with it. [...]

Even so, Bloomberg's years in office have seen no improvement in homelessness and no decline in poverty. Low wage jobs have continued to multiply. The rate of health care coverage for the uninsured and the entire working class has worsened, and the ballyhooed mayoral control of the public schools has produced little except for the testing frenzy and the arbitrary and misleading grading of schools and teachers. At the same time, most prominently, but by no means solely in connection with the mass arrests at the time of the 2004 Republican Convention in New York, the Bloomberg administration has continued Giuliani's attacks on civil rights and liberties, even if a bit less noisily.

Even before the world-changing events of recent weeks, the establishment had been forced to call a halt to even the tiniest of concessions. Bloomberg's own net wealth has reportedly increased by $8.5 billion in the last year, but last January he called for budget cuts totaling nearly $1.5 billion over the next two years, including across-the-board cut of 5 percent for all city departments, while anticipating future budget deficits of more than $5 billion beginning in 2011.

 

[elvis]

I've been completely revolted since I read about this a couple of weeks ago. The level of cynicism in this is unbelievable.

New York’s Mayor Bloomberg cites financial crisis in bid for third term

do you have a problem with the article or with Bloomberg?

 

[Epsilon Delta]

do you have a problem with the article or with Bloomberg?

I'm talking about Bloomberg.

 

[elvis]

I'm talking about Bloomberg.

hes power hungry.

 

[BlackAsCoal]

But wait .. aren't there like a zillion people in New York?

If Bloomberg can get away with this I think it speaks more to the conditioning of the American people than it does of the thirst for power of Bloomberg. Bloomberg is one man .. there are a zillion people in New York.

The bailout was another example of the conditioning of the American people. They didn't even have to wear masks as they stole what will be more than a trillion dollars of taxpayer money right in front of our faces .. and a peep here .. and a peep there is about all the outrage Americans could muster.

It's the politician's fault .. no, it's the republicans .. it's the democrats .. the blame rests solely with the American people who just sat back and allowed them to do it.

"If God didn't want them sheared, he would not have made them sheep"
Eli Wallach, The Good, Bad, and the Ugly.

 

[GigiBowman]

It isn’t just that Mr. Bloomberg inched away from a position that he once cast as an inviolable principle. He did a complete 180. We’re talking, of course, about term limits for the mayor and other senior elected officials, including the 51 members of the City Council.

As you know, New York voters twice passed referendums limiting those officials to two consecutive terms. No one benefited more from the plebiscites than Mr. Bloomberg. Without them, we might well still be talking about Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani. So supposedly sacred was the people’s voice to Mr. Bloomberg that he used to proclaim, “We cannot ignore their will,” and certainly not by legislative fiat.

But on Thursday, at Mr. Bloomberg’s bidding, a majority of the Council thumbed its nose at the voters and stretched the limit to a third term. The majority was unusually narrow for a Council vote, 29 to 22, reflecting the emotional, intellectual and political ferment over the issue.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/24/nyregion/24nyc.html

This is a digusting display of usurping the will of the voters and it is EVERYTHING that wrong with this country. The people we elect in this country serve US not the other way around and serve at OUR pleasure. This along with members of congress ignoring the will of the people on the bailout is just one more reason why term limits need to be enforced .

Amen

 

[Navy1960]

But wait .. aren't there like a zillion people in New York?

If Bloomberg can get away with this I think it speaks more to the conditioning of the American people than it does of the thirst for power of Bloomberg. Bloomberg is one man .. there are a zillion people in New York.

The bailout was another example of the conditioning of the American people. They didn't even have to wear masks as they stole what will be more than a trillion dollars of taxpayer money right in front of our faces .. and a peep here .. and a peep there is about all the outrage Americans could muster.

It's the politician's fault .. no, it's the republicans .. it's the democrats .. the blame rests solely with the American people who just sat back and allowed them to do it.

"If God didn't want them sheared, he would not have made them sheep"
Eli Wallach, The Good, Bad, and the Ugly.

The people of New York BaC it is my understanding twice in the 90's voted to implement term limits. The dishonorable Mr. Bloomberg didn't go to the voters to ask that this term limit be lifted he went to the City Counsel. They voted to lift what the voters put in place, which was usurping the will of the voters. If Mr.Bloomberg runs again and then wins the office then shame on the people of New York for legitimizing the hijacking of the will of the voters.

 

[Ravi]

It does make him look stupid.

However, term limits are silly...we already have them, they're called elections.

 

[BlackAsCoal]

The people of New York BaC it is my understanding twice in the 90's voted to implement term limits. The dishonorable Mr. Bloomberg didn't go to the voters to ask that this term limit be lifted he went to the City Counsel. They voted to lift what the voters put in place, which was usurping the will of the voters. If Mr.Bloomberg runs again and then wins the office then shame on the people of New York for legitimizing the hijacking of the will of the voters.

And now that Bloomberg and the council have given the finger to what New Yorkers voted for .. what is it exactly that New Yorkers are doing about it?

No American voted for the bailout either .. they stole it .. what did Americans do about it? .. I suspect New Yorkers are doing about Bloomberg and the council the same thing we did about the bailout. .. Nothing

 

[Navy1960]

It does make him look stupid.

However, term limits are silly...we already have them, they're called elections.

Those term limits worked well for someone whos been in the Senate for 49 years don't you think Ravi? Or perhaps someone that sits on their collective backsides in the house since 1955. Is it any wonder why we sit in the same situations year after election year, when the same stale people who could care less run government. This is why I have come to be a supporter of Term Limits for ALL elected offices.

 

[Ravi]

Those term limits worked well for someone whos been in the Senate for 49 years don't you think Ravi? Or perhaps someone that sits on their collective backsides in the house since 1955. Is it any wonder why we sit in the same situations year after election year, when the same stale people who could care less run government. This is why I have come to be a supporter of Term Limits for ALL elected offices.

Yuh, but if the people want to reelect them, that is their option.

 

[Navy1960]

Yuh, but if the people want to reelect them, that is their option.

Do you believe those same people who continually elect the same person year after year then complain about their situations because they are not being represented properply have much ground to stand on when it comes to complaining about it then?

 

[CSM]

Yuh, but if the people want to reelect them, that is their option.

I take it then, Ravi, that would be in favor of removing term limits for the office of POTUS, particularly if the majority of voters wanted to re-elect a specific president.

If not, why not?

 

[politicalguy]

Well I'm not up to date on NY polls as I don't live there. If he was able to run for a third term, would he win according to the polls?

And I bet Guiliani would end up running again at some point if he could have a third term

Well, according to NY law Guiliani can...he can't run for a third term consecutively...not ever.

I live in NY and as a New Yorker I want Bloomberg again for the next four years. We are suffering and I believe a shift in power would cause a severe tumbling. During troubles like this before La Guardia and Koch both did the same thing. Stability is key- don't get me wrong though: If a better candidate approaches than I'll vote for him. Just because Bloomberg's proposition was passed doesn't mean he will be elected. That the voters will decide.