Bloomberg and his Trained Surrender Monkeys on the City Council overturned the will of the voters when they overturned term limits. And this was a widely unpopular move. Poll after polls showed dissatisfaction. Many talked of a backlash from the voters. What was this backlash? In the end, 24/29 City Council members who voted for the Bloomberg Putsch against the will of the voters won re-election, many overwhelmingly, some unopposed. Add to that Bloomberg's win and you have 25/30 of the people who overturned the decision of millions of New York voters handily won re-election. Really shows you the strength of NYC voters. You can do anything to them and they don't do anything back. Which empowers Bloomberg and his allies, empowers the local party machines and developers (the number one source of political contributions in the city). These are the power brokers: Bloomberg, the machines and developer money.  read more »

After the 2000 fiasco and the refusal of many Green Party members to recognize their abysmal mistake that year, most liberal Democrats I knew turned against the Green Party. I for one couldn't vote Green for years.

Well, once the Greens refused to follow Nader, the architect of the 2000 fiasco whose ego only grew even more giganormous after that fiasco, into further oblivion, some of us started to watch the Greens with some renewed interest. Even many former Greens I know won't vote Green in any race where there is a close race between a Republican and a Democrat. Eight years of Bush is a high price to pay for a protest vote.

But there are some cases where voting Green starts to make sense, particularly in NYC where lousy, corrupt or right-wing Democrats coast to victory because they have machine backing and the Republican Party in NYC is about as pathetic as you can find.  read more »

Okay, so many of you are going to say this is a stretch, but it isn’t: come next month, and let’s say Michael Bloomberg is elected to a third term as mayor (although I hope not), what is going to prevent him from overturning the term limits law again, and legislating himself a chance at being a four-term mayor? And furthermore, who is going to stop him? Pray tell.

The initial answer is as obvious as my handsome face: nothing. The secondary answer is even more obvious than my charm and wit: no one. Nothing and no one can stop Michael Bloomberg from going for a fourth term if he were to win again next month. Well, maybe the courts can (maybe).  read more »

Sign the BoroughVoter.com petition asking elected officials to abide by the term limits voted on by the voters. The link is www.boroughvoter.com/?cat=55

The petition text is as follows:

We the undersigned ask all affected Staten Island elected officials to abide by the Term Limits law voted on by the voters of New York City in 1993 and 1996. Without a voter-approved referendum, we ask all Staten Island elected officials affected by the recent Term Limit extension to not abide by the City Council's vote. If it is true that elected officials represent their respective constituencies, then the unanimous vote by Staten Island City Councilmen against this measure should speak loud and clear on the behalf of all Staten Islanders.

Therefore, we ask all affected Staten Island elected officials to abide by the term limits voted on by the voters in 1993 and again in 1996.

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 »