Term Limits

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Bloomberg.

After sitting through four hours of testimony at City Hall this morning, Michael Bloomberg signed into law the term-limits extension that will allow him and other city lawmakers to run for a third consecutive four-year term in office.

He also signaled an uncertainness about supporting term limits in general.

"The one argument against term limits that I've never had a great answer to is the argument that when you have term limits, you do limit the public's choice. I feel that this time, the public should have a choice. And while I am still in favor of term limits, it is seriously something that everyone should think long and hard about: is there a better ways to do this? But I'm going to sign the bill and the public is going to have a choice.

Azi Paybarah

Union members mark attendance on a sign-in sheet at City Hall

Most of the people who showed up to the mayor's bill-signing ceremony were there to testify against it, but not all.

A whole group of union members came to City Hall to support Michael Bloomberg's term-limits legislation, and they were seen scrambled to add their names to a sign-in sheet after mayoral aides announced that only people testifying against the  bill would be allowed in.

One of them identified himself to me as Jeff, and declined to give his last name. Jeff, a middle-aged white man with gray hair, wearing blue jeans, said he received a call from “my political action committee,” which is part of the Central Labor Council.

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City Hall.

The rotunda inside City Hall is full of people and reporters awaiting Michael Bloomberg's 9:30 a.m. bill signing ceremony, where he will officially sign into law the term-limits extension that allows him to run for a third term.

He will also have to listen to testimony from voters.

While the measure passed the City Council 29 to 22 on October 23, critics have vowed to continue fighting the issue.

Bloomberg critic and mayoral candidate Anthony Weiner helped organize people to come down to City Hall and testify before the mayor signed the bill, taking advantage of what he said was a requirement for the mayor to ask for public comments before putting his signature on a bill.

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David Paterson.

Governor David Paterson attended the Citizens Union annual dinner last night at the Waldorf Astoria to present his father, Basil, with an award from the good government group.

But C.U. may or may not have appreciated it when, during his his remarks praising the nonpartisan organization, Paterson, a lawyer, began constructing an argument for why there may be legal barriers to C.U.'s two most important goals at the moment: undoing the City Council's extension of term limits and pushing for nonpartisan redistricting of the state legislature.

Citizens Union strongly opposed the term-limits extension, which was championed by elected officials it general considers allies in the reform movement: Mayor Michael Bloomberg, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn and even Brooklyn City Councilman David Yassky.

A potential ballot measure dealing with term limits, campaign contributions and junkets is now being circulated for signatures, according to the California Secretary of State's office.

The measure would give state Assembly members an additional two years in office, and state Senate members an additional four years - one extra term for each chamber.

The state Supreme Court's term limits decision on Friday was hardly a surprise. The court ruled that the term limit amendment was properly approved and in so doing, side-stepped its own role in changing the amendment's language between passages to exempt the judicial branch from the measure's reach. Similarly, the court's decision to exclude local elected officials from seeking office again, while upholding the right of state legislators to run in 2008 was not unexpected. Nonetheless, the episode was revealing on a couple of fronts.

First and as been discussed prior in this space, the whole mess demonstrates the frailty of the ballot initiative process as a means to craft public policy. Pushed by interest groups, often times from out of state, ballot measures tend to be poorly written and full of unintended consequences. 

In a sweeping ruling handed down Friday by the Nevada Supreme Court, 21 elected officials in the state have been ruled ineligible to run for re-election because of term limits. In a separate ruling, 13 others, including the state Assembly speaker and state Senate majority leader, were ruled eligible to run for re-election.

Nevada votes approved term limits in 1996. Friday's ruling examined when exactly they kicked in for local officials and state lawmakers.

LAS VEGAS-Nevada Attorney General Catherine Cortez-Masto has submitted a petition to the state Supreme Court, asking for clarification of the state's term limits laws, according to the Associated Press.

The term limits law, passed in 1996, limits legislators and other officials to twelve years of service.  Controversy has arisen because some officials, like Clark County Commissioner Bruce Woodbury, believe that term limits only went into effect beginning with the next election in 1998.  Woodbury has served on the Clark County Commission since 1981.

LAS VEGAS-The 2008 election may be a landmark year for Nevada, with control of the state senate and a possible Democratic assembly supermajority both hanging on only one seat.  Perhaps more important, however, assuming term limits hold, is that 2008 will be the last election for eighteen  veteran state legislators, including the assembly's longest-serving member, Republican John Marvel.

Marvel, 80, has represented his home of Battle Mountain and Assembly District 32 for thirty years and reflected on his career and his last reelection with PolitickerNV.com earlier this week.

Clark County Commissioner Bruce Woodbury.LAS VEGAS-Secretary of State Ross Miller's office issued challenges today against the candidacies of Clark County Commissioner Bruce Woodbury, Clark County School District Trustees Mary Beth Scow and Ruth Leola Johnson, Humboldt County School Board member Linda Schrempp and university regents Howard Rosenberg and Thalia Dondero.