Mayor's Road Back to City Hall Not as Smooth as Planned?
Today isn't the best news day in Bloomberg '09 headquarters. The mayor met the GOP's borough chairs and didn't leave with anything close to the stamp of approval—aka three of five votes—to get back on the Republican line on the November ballot. Bloomberg told reporters after, "We talked about elections and politics obviously, and I said the last two times I ran, I ran on the Republican line and I’d be honored to run again. We’ll see what they decide to do."
As for the county leaders for the party, they had even less to say, issuing a confusing Caps Locked statement about the meeting simply thanking the mayor for his time. When one of the GOP reps was asked how this morning's meeting compared with previous ones the city Republicans have had with Bloomberg over the last year, he laughed and replied, “What meetings?”
And thinking about getting on the Republican ticket might even be a case of the mayor counting his chickens before they've hatched. Today's New York Times reveals that a bill that could put the brakes on the City Council's extension of term limits is gaining momentum in the state legislature up in Albany. The bill would apply retroactively and require a referendum on term limits in New York City in May. The sponsor of the legislation, State Senator Kevin Parker of Brooklyn (no relation) says that they have the votes needed for passage. Of course, getting it past court battles and signed by Governor Paterson is another story.
Brooklyn Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries tells the Times, “This effort is not anti-Bloomberg. But it is pro-democracy, and designed to provide the people of the city of New York with the opportunity to decide the way in which its municipal governance will take shape.”
