NYC Council Approves Term Limits Repeal

Late yesterday afternoon the New York City Council voted to repeal term limits, all but guaranteeing a third mayoral term for Michael Bloomberg.

After a spirited, emotional and at times raucous debate, the New York City Council voted, 29 to 22, on Thursday afternoon to extend term limits, allowing Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg to seek re-election next year and undoing the result of two voter referendums that had imposed a limit of two four-year terms.

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 in 2009 — 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.

The new law, which earlier on Thursday sailed through a committee vote, limits elected officials to three consecutive terms and applies to all of the city’s elected officials. It has already begun to upend municipal politics, reshaping the dynamics of next year’s races. Of the Council’s 51 members, 35 would have been barred by term limits from seeking re-election next year. On Thursday, 23 of those members voted in favor of extending term limits, and 12 voted against. .

The vote was protested by spectators inside and outside City Hall and will likely be challenged in court. Many are calling for a special spring 2009 referendum on the issue, which would cost the city millions of dollars to conduct.

Openly lesbian Speaker Christine Quinn, who was among those slated for ejection next year, lobbied heavily for the change. Ironically, Quinn became Speaker after her popular four-term predecessor, Gifford Miller, had to leave office because of the then-new term limits law.