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Litigation imminent on term limits extension
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FILE PHOTO: HARRIS/EXAMINER
Legal challenges to legislation allowing city and borough elected officials are imminent , informed sources tell The Examiner.
The controversial legislation, which was passed by the New York City Council one week ago today and is scheduled to be signed into law on Monday morniing will face legal challenges likely in a matter of hours after it is signed into law.
Former Deputy Mayor Randy Mastro, an attorney representing City Council Members Bill de Blasio (D - Brooklyn) and Letitia James (WFP - Brooklyn) said that he plains to file a complaint asserting that Council members who gave themselves the chance to run for a third term -- with all the advantages of incumbency -- had an inherent conflict of interest. Mastro, who served under former New York City Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani (R) had represented the legislators in an unsuccessful last minute effort to obtain a temporary restraining order blocking last week's votes on similar grounds, but said that the court's failure to enjoin the vote, didn't mean that the complaint lacked merit, it merely meant that it was within the Council's authority to consider the matter.
Mastro will have the support of the New York Public Interest Research Group (NYPIRG) and other good government groups and additional litigation could soon follow.
"We are still weighing our legal options and hope to be of assistance to [Randy]," said NYPIRG Staff Attorney Gene Russianoff. "We're serious about it."
Mastro is believed to have a complaint on behalf of the two Brooklyn Council members drafted and to merely be waiting for the mayor to affix his signature to the bill and may file suit sometime next week, possibly as early as Monday afternoon.
"The concern is that a judge might say the cas isn't 'ripe' until it's signed into law," explained Russianoff.
The city's Conflicts of Interest Board is still considering a complaint by Common Cause New York and other good-government groups asserting that New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg (I) violated the city conflicts law by offering term-limits advocate Ronald Lauder a seat on a charter revision commission in exchange for his support for the legislation. Lauder, a billionaire had funded both the original 1993 referendum that first established term limits and a major opposition campaign to the unsuccessful 1996 attempt to overturn it, has already endorsed Bloomberg for a third term as mayor. Lauder said that he continues to believe in a two term limit, but believes that "continuity in leadership" is essential in these times of financial crisis and therefore supports a one-time extension to three terms. While the legislation passed by the City Council last week makes the extension to three terms, it contains the "Lauder cause," explicitly stating that a voter referendum would overturn the law, something that he is almost sure to put forth in a 2010 charter revision packet. Bloomberg's appointment of Lauder to this commission almost guarantees the issue a place on the ballot.
"This is proof of a backroom deal inside City Hall," said Rep. Anthony Weiner (D - Brooklyn/Queens), a 2009 mayoral candidate.
Consequences
Yesterday, a new group popped up on Facebook dedicated to ousting Bloomberg and the 29 Council members who voted for the legislation. "This was not an issue about whether you supported term limits or not. This was not an issue about whether you believed Mayor Bloomberg was a good mayor or not. This was an issue about whether the New York City Council had the right to overturn the will of the people," writes the group's creator, Andre Calvert. "Mayor Bloomberg deserves blame for bringing about this undemocratic proposal, but the City Council Speaker Christine Quinn along with the 28 City Council members are to blame for advocating and enabling this undemocratic proposal. Mayor Bloomberg, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, and every City Council member who voted YES to the Mayor's proposal are unfit to continue serving the people of New York for overturning the will of the people."
The group goes on to identify Bloomberg and Council Speaker Christine Quinn (D - Manhattan) as key targets. If the legislation is upheld, Bloomberg and Quinn may get what they have said they wanted - to offer the voters the choice to keep them in or vote them out and if Calvert has his way, the latter will be the case.
According to a recent Quinnipiac poll, 89% of New Yorkers believe that the issue of term limits should be decided by voters in a referendum, not by an act by the City Council.
It is in that spirit that several Council members have announced that they not seek re-election to the Council in 2009.
