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)

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.

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.

I assume from this statement that Ken Diamondstone plans to challenge Yassky for the 33rd City Council seat. Here is Ken's statement:

Brooklyn Council Candidate Ken Diamondstone's Statement on David Yassky's "Yes" Vote on a Legislative Change to Term Limits

COUNCILMAN DAVID YASSKY BETRAYS VOTERS

On October 23rd, David Yassky finally revealed what many who live in the 33rd Council District suspected all along. By voting "yes" on a legislative change to the term limits law, Yassky has once again demonstrated that while he plays at being a progressive working for the people, the real reason he is in office is to serve his own self-interest.

These past few weeks have been the most disgraceful chapter in Yassky's seven years in office. His alleged indecision on extending term limits made it clear that David Yassky lacks both courage and conviction. He didn't have the guts to stand before the residents of the 33rd Council District to admit his plan to sell them out, so he could treat himself to four more years of the same at City Hall.

Some people want term limits, some do not. Now, there's a third position, as articulated by Councilites Yassky, Brewer and Gerson: boo term limits, but yay referendum. Azi:

Three undecided City Council members—David Yassky, Gale Brewer and Alan Gerson—told reporters just now they’ll introduce an amendment to the term-limits legislation that would establish a charter review commission that could put term-limits to a voter referendum at the earliest opportunity.

The Council votes on the legislation tomorrow; the three lawmakers, who were previously undecided about how they will vote, declined to say whether they’ll support the bill in its current form.

All three said they believe it's better policy to allow city lawakers to serve three terms, instead of only two, but expressed reservations about overturning two public referendums with legislation in the City Council.

Liz adds:

"This introduces a whole new dynamic...It forces an up or down vote on a referendum, and provides some people with cover."

It also complicates things for people who like to cloak themselves in the reform mantle, who can't argue now that they didn't have the opportunity to vote for the referendum bill because it wasn't on the floor.

Really nothing wrong with having a referendum, is there, even as we've been told that the thirteen months between now and the 2009 election aren't adequate to hold one.

Email from Councilman David Yassky regarding term limits:

Thank you for contacting my office about Mayor Bloomberg’s proposal to revise the City’s term limits law. As you know, current law limits City officials to two terms in office. Be assured that I take this issue very seriously, and will not come to a decision lightly.

While I believe that it is better for the city to have twelve year term limits instead of eight, the current limits were twice approved by the voters of this city through a clear and direct ballot process. For this reason, it would have been my strong preference that this issue not be put before the City Council, but rather the voters. However, as Mayor Bloomberg has put the issue before the Council, it is incumbent upon me to weigh the benefits of a twelve year limit against the desire to have the decision remain in the hands of the voters.

For that reason, your input is extremely valuable to me as I anticipate casting a vote.

Please encourage others you know to share their opinions with my office on this important issue, and know that I will take your input seriously as I make a decision about what is appropriate.

Okay, so this is funny: WFP has been calling out Councilmembers who haven't yet taken a pro-democracy position on the term limits power grab. Among these, unsurprisingly to anyone familiar with his record, is one David Yassky.

Well, here's WFP shock troops offering up some gentle reminders to this perennial office-seeker that votes do matter.

An outraged citizen signing the petition for term limits (one three-hour stint in the district apparently produced 900 signatures)

Yes, they canvased in front of his office. Come to think of it, why isn't there a district office in Williamsburg?

Delivering the petitions. Good work, WFP!

Biodiesel is one of the most intriguing of those new possibilities...crops of soybeans and rapeseed and maybe even algae, grown by present day farmers, processed into a diesel fuel substitute that works just fine in modern Volkswagons and Mack trucks and school buses--even in the oil-burning furnace down in the basement. It is potentially a truely sweet solution, offering a new market for hard-pressed local farmers even as it begins to help solve some of our most pressing environmental problems. Greg Pahl's book...manages to raise the right questions (and raise them early enough) so that we can perhaps build a structure for this developing industry that serves local farmers and processors instead of simply corporate agribusiness giants.

--Bill McKibben in the Forward to Greg Pahl's Biodiesel

Biodiesel has been getting a bad name because of the potential for competition with food production. It has always struck me that some of the loudest voices criticizing biodiesel has come from the oil, coal and nuke lobbies. But it did seem like competition with food production may be a critical problem with biodiesel.

Devin Cohen, candidate for Broklyn's 1st Civil Court in the September 9th primary, has announced two new endorsements: Congresswoman Yvette Clarke and City Councilman David Yassky. All he needs is a Chris Owens endorsement and Devin will have three-of-a-kind from the 2006 CD-11 Congressional race that divided the district so much. Since Devin already got the endorsement of CBID, the club that Chris is now the president of, in some ways Devin already has unified the CD-11 candidates behind him. This brings Devin's endorsement list to the following:

# Congresswoman Yvette Clarke
# Assemblymember Joan Millman
# Assemblymember Jim Brennan
# State Senator Velmanette Montgomery
# State Senator Martin Connor
# Councilmember Letitia James
# Councilmember David Yassky
# District Leader Alan Fleishman
# District Leader JoAnne Simon
# District Leader William Saunders
# Independent Neighborhood Democrats
# Central Brooklyn Independent Democrats
# Lambda Independent Democrats of Brooklyn
# 57th A.D. Regular Democratic
Organization

DDDB sent me a link to some pictures from Saturday's "Put Up or Shut Up Ratner" Rally (as I call it). Once again, I am struck at the politicians that have come together to oppose Ratner.

The iconic picture for me is Chris Owens and David Yassky, on the same stage to demand accountability in all aspects of the Atlantic Yards project:

How times have changed since 2006. And Ratner brought them together.

This picture gives a good impression of the turnout:

Though I think this might be facing only one way from the stage and so show about half the crowd. A was the far end of the crowd in this picture, so I couldn't see to the other end. This seems to give an impression of the crowd facing the other way:

Not a bad turnout for a dreary Saturday.