Unexpected Opposition for Bloomberg

Mayor's Quest for a Third Term Encounters Objections as Council Hears Issue

NEW YORK, Oct. 16 -- With New York reeling from a financial meltdown, it appeared that Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg (I) would have little trouble convincing his City Council allies to change the law and allow him to run for a third term.

But as the council began two days of public hearings Thursday on whether the term-limits law should be changed, the mayor encountered unexpected opposition.

"No more Bloomberg the King!" said signs outside City Hall, where people lined up to enter the packed hearing room and an adjacent overflow room.

"I'm not in favor of the mayor commandeering a third term," said Diane Rankins, a retired teacher from Queens who waited to go inside. "This is supposed to be a democracy. He's rich and he's using his power to make change."

Inside the hearing room, filled with guffaws, boos and cheers, a coalition of civil rights advocates, activists and politicians, some of them angling for Bloomberg's job, opposed the changes. They noted that voters already backed term limits in referendums in 1993 and 1996. And they said they are piqued that during a financial crisis, a billionaire mayor could use economic fear to create another chance to seek reelection.

On the other side, a collection of activists and former and current politicians said they oppose term limits and favor the mayor's plan as a way to give voters more choice.

At the hearing, council member Letitia James, who supports a referendum, quoted the journalist Edward R. Murrow: "A nation of sheep will beget a government of wolves."

She added, " 'It would be an absolute disgrace to go around the public will.' Those are not my words. Those are the words of Mayor Bloomberg in 2005."

Speaking on the steps of City Hall, state Rep. Anthony D. Weiner (D), a mayoral prospect who is leading a campaign against extending term limits by legislation, said, "It's about whether New York will be a city that treats its people with respect. People don't like their vote nullified."

Weiner has led rallies, and set up a Web site, LetNYCVote.com, to encourage people to testify at the hearings.

The Working Families Party produced a commercial that aired during Wednesday's presidential debate, distributed fliers and rallied crowds to show up for Thursday's hearing. It said it has collected 15,000 signatures for a petition opposing the mayor's plan.

In a recent interview with NY1 News, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) said, "It is disturbing that voters voted twice, so I think that the City Council and the mayor have to first go through the hearings they're holding and try to figure out what they will do."

Yet Bloomberg also found support for his move. Former governor Mario M. Cuomo (D) said at the hearing that he opposes term limits.

"There's a much more intelligent and obvious way to remove officeholders whom the voters believe should be replaced. You let the voters make the decision, in what's called an election. I know it works: It made me a private citizen in 1994," when he lost his bid for a fourth term.

"It takes 12 years to get things done in this town," former mayor Ed Koch (D) said in an interview, noting that he served three terms before limits were instated.