Just came across a Facebook site dedicated to defeating Tsar Bloomberg and the Bloomberg 29 (his trained surrender monkeys). So far it is just a sattement of purpose and a list of possible challengers to the 29 City Council members who voted to overturn the will of the people on term limits.

Here is their statement of purpose:

On October 23, 2008 the New York City Council passed Mayor Bloomberg's proposal that extended term limits from 2 terms to 3 terms for the Mayor, City Council, and other city officials without a voter referendum even though New Yorkers voted in 1993 and 1996 to keep term limits at 2 terms. The final vote was 29 YES and 22 NO.

According to a 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.

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.  read more »

Mayor (Tsar) Bloomberg and his Trained Surrender Monkeys

(Bloomberg photo from WCBSTV; Quinn photo from The Chief-Leader; Yassky photo from Streetsblog; Dom Recchia photo from Daily News)  read more »

David Yassky currently seems the most targeted of the Bloomberg 29 (personally I would like to see Recchia and Quinn get more heat for their ass kissing of Tsar Bloomberg). I already posted a statement from Ken Diamondstone criticizing Yassky and making it pretty clear Diamondstone was still planning on running for the 33rd City Council seat, even if Yassky is still hanging on.

Now Jo Anne Simon, another declared candidate in the 33rd race, has issued a statement:

Should term limits be extended? Are two terms simply insufficient for the executive and the legislature to accomplish what each does best? Is the current financial crisis truly that rarest of situations where the law should be set aside to effectuate a result propounded by one person (the mayor) but likely to benefit several incumbent interests, such as city council members (who had the up or down vote), borough presidents and other, city-wide elected officials?

New Yorkers differ about the answers.  read more »

After much criticism from all sides, David Yassky has issued a statement regarding his opposition turned support of the Bloomberg Putsch. He had responded personally to my original criticism of his vote, but this is his official statement for public consumption. I promised to post his opinion when we discussed my open letter, so here it is:

I am sure you know by now that the City Council voted last week to approve Mayor Bloomberg's proposal to lengthen the term limit for City officeholders from eight years to 12 years.

I want you to know that after a great deal of thought, I chose to support the Mayor's proposal. This was the most difficult decision I have faced in the City Council – more than congestion pricing, the garbage plan, or the post-9/11 tax increase – and I want to explain why I believe it was the right choice.  read more »