Bloomberg OK'd to Run for Third Term

After a passionate and occasionally ugly debate, the New York City Council has voted 29-22 to extend term limits and allow Michael Bloomberg to run for a third term as mayor.

The vote was a major victory for Mayor Bloomberg - a billionaire and lifelong Democrat who was elected mayor as a Republican in 2001, won re-election in 2005, became an independent last year, and decided just weeks ago that he wished to seek a third term for himself in2009 - and for the Council's speaker, Christine C. Quinn. But the intense acrimony surrounding the decision left a sharply divided Council and could ultimately damage the mayor's popularity.

I lived in and around "the city" for much of my life (though not much during the Bloomberg era) and still consider myself a New Yorker. My NYC friends and family, Democrats and Republicans alike, are generally happy with the job the mayor's done. They like his independence and even-handed leadership. But most of them think he shouldn't be allowed to run again, and I agree. What the hell is the point of term limits if a powerful politician can just work the machine to change the rules? Limiting executive power is the whole reason the law was instituted in the first place. Oh, the irony.

Bloomberg claims only he can lead New York through the economic crisis ahead. That's a risk New York should be willing to take. Remember when, after 9/11. Rudy Giuliani floated the idea of extending his second term? All the city's papers, the City Council and a huge majority of citizens said it was inappropriate and Rudy didn't pursue it. It's a shame New Yorkers seem to have lost some of their fight over the past eight years. They have another chance next year when they can vote for Bloomberg's opponent.