Charter Commissioner Wants to Close Incumbent Loophole

Yea that's me calling for a new movement to close the loophole on the new two-term limits for city incumbents. You can find some of the details from this article by Chris Bragg at City Hall News, but the main point is that although the Charter Commission I served on gave the public the option of going back to two-terms for city elected officials, we exempted incumbents from this change if they are not already in their third term. I strongly objected to this provision, and wrote a minority report stating that position. That is why I believe that in order to finish the job we started we should give the voters the chance to decide whether they want to have the two-term law apply to incumbents as well. This can be done either by another charter commission or by public referendum. Right now the most likely route is a public referendum that would require thousands of signatures. Would you sign it?

Politicians Say Bloomberg Study Will Be Biased Against Living Wage

Adam Lisberg at the Daily News reports that three politicians have charged that a living wage study commissioned by Mayor Bloomberg will be biased against the idea of the living wage. Three members of the Industrial Agency Board -- Comptroller John Liu, Bronx BP Ruben Diaz, and Manhattan BP Scott Stringer -- will ask the board to rescind their June decision to commission a $1 million study on the living wage. They charge that "the study will be subject to the biases of a study team that is being chosen by the mayor's office."

Could WalMart Be Ready to Take on NY? UPDATE

Crains is reporting that Walmart is poised to make a big push again to try to get a store open in NYC. Walmart recently hired Mayor Bloomberg's former campaign manager Bradley Tusk to help its efforts, and they are looking at smaller store sizes which would negate the most powerful tool used to keep them out -- City Council zoning regulations. The Crains article mentions the Kingbridge Armory as an interesting backdrop, "Meanwhile, leaders of the city's building trades are still irritated that the retail union engineered the defeat of a proposed mall at the Kingsbridge Armory last year, killing 1,000 construction jobs. With its members facing 30%-plus unemployment rates, the trades have little incentive to join the retail unions in fighting Walmart, which said it will build with union labor. The Building and Construction Trades Council declined comment." Meanwhile. other big box stores such as Costco and Target are thriving here and employing a lot of people. What do you think about the possibility of Walmart coming to NY?

UPDATE: The New York Post reports today that New York City residents spent $165 million at Walmart even though there is not a store in the 5 boroughs. This would seem to contradict a quote by this union official, "Walmart is still not welcome," said Stuart Appelbaum, of the national Retail and Wholesale Workers union." Who is this dude to speak for 8 million New Yorkers?

State Senate Leadership Still in Doubt, And So is Diaz

Politicians around the state are holding their collective breath as they anxiously await the news about whether Democrats or Republicans will control the State Senate. As reported in the NY Times, there could be a 31-31 tie, but there are still 3 seats too close to call (it appears that 2 of those are leaning Republican). One fascinating wrinkle involves our very own State Senator Ruben Diaz Sr. As you may recall, he joined with Pedro Espada and Hiram Mosserate in the past to cross party lines and shut down state government last year. Even though he lost his two amigos, he is still hinting that he might cross party lines and join the Republicans if he does not get his way -- and in a closely deadlocked Senate that could make all the difference. Capitol Confidential is reporting that Diaz is already threatening he may jump ship if he does not get his way on certain issues. I wonder why there isn't a similar movement to remove the Senator from the Democratic party that we saw with Espada? Sounds like a job for our crack team at Bronx County!

Back to Two Terms But Still Need to Fix Incumbent Loophole

The term limits question on the ballot passed with flying colors this past Tuesday by a 74-26 margin. So city elected officials are again limited to two terms and are forbidden from changing the law for themselves. But, we are still stuck with a provision that exempts incumbents who are not in their third term from this law and allows them to serve three terms. As a member of the 2010 Charter Commission, I strongly opposed this loophole for incumbents but was unable to garner the needed 8 votes. Celeste Katz at the Daily News has an excellent article today on how two city councilmen will be treated differently because of this provision, and how one of them will be able to stay in office until 2025! The incumbent loophole exempts 60 percent of the city council, two borough presidents, the comptroller and the public advocate. Stay tuned because we really need to fix this loophole and finish the job we started.

Don't Forget: Term Limits Are On The Back of The Ballot

So you will need to turn your ballot over to see two questions put there by the Charter Revision Commission when you vote tomorrow. In full disclosure, I served on the 15 person commission, so of course I strongly advocate that you vote YES on both questions. Question 1 on the ballot gives us the option of going back to two terms for city elected officials (which, as you will recall was changed by city elected officials in 2008 after we already voted twice for it). It also includes a prohibition on these guys changing this again for themselves (which was the best we could do to stop this practice). But what I did not approve of was the exemption of incumbents who are not in their third terms already. I opposed that in the Commission and have written articles for the Daily News and Gotham Gazette expressing my opposition. But despite that one provision we should vote YES now and figure out a way to close the incumbent loophole in 2011. Question 2 is a list of good government reforms that will put you to sleep if you read them all, but suffice to say that they will help make city government more efficient so I hope you vote YES there as well.

Election Day Tomorrow: Any Predictions on What Will Happen?

Although I have given up on trying to predict elections, all the polls are indicating that there could be tremendous upheaval in our state and federal elections tomorrow. We know there is a lot of voter discontent out there, but how that plays out at the ballot box is unclear. We did not see a throw the bums out mentality prevail in the primaries this past September, but general elections are different. Here, the involvement of multiple parties can cause havoc (unless you live in a one-trick town like the Bronx). So one day before we vote in NY State, we see a tie in the polls in the race for AG between Schneiderman and Donovan and in the race for Comptroller between DiNapoli and Wilson. The NY Times is reporting that the Democrats facing losing State Senate they won just two years ago. All polls are showing that the Gov's race is over with Cuomo holding a huge lead over Palladino. On the federal front, both US Senators also hold huge leads in the polls, but polls are showing many close house races that could upset the Democratic control of the House. It should be a fascinating night for any political junkie. What are your predictions?