I attended Speaker Christine Quinn's press conference today, where she announced her support for Mayor Bloomberg's power grab. She began by stating that we are facing "unprecedented challenges," and that she feels we need to have the "choice to keep the current" people in office to create a "continuity of leadership." Let's take that one piece at a time. First of all, the hook on which she hung everything else (perhaps her political career as well) was the concept of "unprecedented challenges." What I want to know, and what NOBODY IN THE PRESS ASKED, was just what exactly we're facing that is "unprecedented." This city has been through wars, riots, panics, depressions, near-bankruptcy and terrorist attacks. What's new here? What is unprecedented? That question alone, and the obvious fact that there is no answer, renders Christine Quinn unfit for service. If she doesn't know the history of this city well enough to put things in perspective, she has no idea what she's doing. But there's more... Then there's the question of "choice." It seems to me that New Yorkers have already made their choice -- twice. We made a "choice" to limit our elected officials to two terms. Clearly, Quinn doesn't respect that "choice," so what's to stop her from denying us our "choice" if the bill passes and voters in her district turn her out of office next year? Moving on to "continuity of leadership." Perhaps someone should remind the Speaker that in America we have a long history of a change in leadership. Perhaps someone should inform her that there is a word for a place where there is "continuity of leadership" -- the word is "dictatorship." Then perhaps someone should explain to her that supporting even the concept of a "dictatorship" here is disgusting to all good Americans. There was a lot more, but nothing of great importance -- just the stuff reported by the mainstream media. Oh, wait! There was one odd note. Quinn claimed that she had spoken with (among others) "good government groups." It seems to me that every "good government group" that has spoken out, including Citizens Union, Citizen Action, NYPIRG, Common Cause, and my own Democracy for New York City (does WFP count as a goo-goo?), has said negative things about the mayor's bill, if not coming out specifically against it. What goo-goos did she get support from? Basically, it comes down to this: Quinn lied, the press rolled over, and we might be stuck with the result.