PRO TERM LIMIT QUOTES
MAYOR MIKE BLOOMBERG
New York Post, 11/30/05
Bloomberg has denounced plans by City Council members to pass legislation that would extend their own terms from eight to 12 years. The mayor made it clear he sees no need to change the current law, which was enacted via a 1993 referendum.
“There’s no company that I know of that doesn’t benefit when they have changes in management once in a while,” Bloomberg said.
Daily News, 11/23/05
Mayor Bloomberg denounced some City Council members’ calls to extend their term limits through legislation as an anti-democratic “outrage” – noting voters twice approved the eight-year limit law.
“While it may be that that the City Council has a right to override them, deliberately saying to the public, “We don’t care what you think,” I would use the word disgraceful,” Bloomberg said yesterday.
“The cynicism that that would engender towards city government is not something that this city needs,” the mayor added.
“The public wants term limits, and if that’s what they want, we should all learn to live with ‘em.”
The Western Queens Gazette, 12/01/05
“The public wants term limits, and if that’s what they want, we should all learn to live with them,” the mayor stated.
New York Post, 12/10/05
If City Council members enact a self-serving bill to extend their own term, Mayor Bloomberg said yesterday he’s back another referendum that would restore the current term-limits law.
“It would be such an outrage,” the mayor said on his weekly WABC radio show. “But if they do it, you can rest assured there will be a ballot initiative.”
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New York Post, 7/19/06
Mayor Bloomberg declared yesterday that he’d oppose any effort to put a third referendum on the ballot to change the law, which obliges city elected officials to pack it in after two terms.
“I think the public has spoken twice and they’ve spoken quit clearly. I don’t know that you should keep shopping for a different answer,” the mayor said.
“The public shouldn’t be bothered continuously with the same question.”
Daily News, 7/19/06
Bloomberg said the benefits of term limits outweigh the drawbacks.
“The little you lose in experience you more than make up in terms of fresh ideas – I don’t know of any company that would allow their people to stay doing the same thing for long periods of time,” he said, adding he supports term limits at all levels of government.
New York Times, 12/4/06
Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg vigorously criticized the Council for even considering going against the voters’ wishes on the issue. “The public wants term limits, and if that’s what they want, we should all learn to live with them,” the mayor said at a recent news conference. “The issue is not whether term limits are right. The issue here is whether they public has a right in a democracy to have government the way it wants.”
New York Sun, 11/29/2007
A spokesman for Mr. Bloomberg, Stuart Loeser, said the mayor has been clear about his views on term limits.
“It’s eight years and he’s out. He believes in term limits. He has absolutely no interest in a third term,” Mr. Loeser said. “It’s the greatest job in the world, but he believes that after eight years it will be time for someone else to take over.”
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NY Post.. no date
David Seifman, City Hall
Stu Loeser, the mayor’s spokesman, said there was no chance the mayor would flip on the term-limits issue.
“It’s false,” he said of the source’s account.
“Sure he’s going to stay in public service, but he’s not going to stay in public office.”
“Public service like his foundation and boards? Sure. Keep speaking out on national and global problems that affect New Yorkers? Of course. But he’s not running for office again,” Loeser said.
Daily News, 4/12/08
“A spokesman for the mayor said Bloomberg promises to abide by the law, which limits elected city officials to two four-year terms in office.
“The mayor is absolutely not seeking a third term, said Bloomberg spokesman Stu Loeser.
Asked if the mayor would promise to leave at the end of 2009, Loeser replied, “YES”
New York Sun, 4/14/08
A spokesman for Mr. Bloomberg, Stu Loeser, said, “The Mayor believes in term limits and will be leaving office at the end of his second term,” he said.
New York Post, 4/15/08
Bloomberg said that on his final day office he will attend his successor’s swearing-in ceremony.
The next day, he will take his mother to her 101st-birthday party.
And on the third day, Bloomberg said =, he will go golfing, which he confessed would probably bore him in fairly short order.
“But, you know, one of the things I would love to do is spend some time traveling the state,” he said.
Catching himself, Bloomberg quickly added, “But not as a candidate and not as governor.”
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Daily News, 4/15/08
“I favor term limits, and I’m looking forward to being mayor through midnight on Dec. 31,’09 and then doing something else,” the mayor said yesterday. I’m not seeking a third term. That’s correct.”
“I’ll probably wind up in philanthropy,” Bloomberg said. “I give away $225-odd million a year, and there’s an awful lots of ways to change the world, be involved. And I think you can contribute a lot by rally working hard at it, and I will do it.
In answering questions about his plans, though, Bloomberg twice mentioned gold.
“One of the things I would love to do is spend some time traveling the state,” he said. “I’d love to do that again, but not as a candidate, and not as governor. I’d like to do it as a tourist. You know, there are golf courses all over this state that I could dig up with my swing.”
Daily News, 4/22/08
“….his spokesman definitively said Bloomberg would leave – on schedule – at the end of 2009.
New York Post, 6/7/08
David Seifman
“If the public wanted to vote for it to change, I don’t know that I would want to run again. I’m going to be 68 years old when I finish this. I really haven’t had a vacation in six years,” the mayor said.
“We have term limits which I have said are probably a good idea. I’ve always said a new guy can do it better. The public has voted for it twice.”
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New York Daily News, 6/8/08
Michael Goodwin
Back in April, he (Bloomberg) said: “I favor term limits, and I’m looking forward to being mayor through midnight on Dec. 31, ’09, and then doing something else. I’m not seeking a third term.”
Two years ago, he declared that “change is good” and blasted City Council members trying to overturn the term limits approved by large margins in 1993 and 1996.
“The public has spoken twice, and they’ve spoken quite clearly. I don’t know that you should keep shopping for a different answer,” he said, arguing the benefits outweigh any drawbacks.
“The little you lose in experience you more than make up in terms of fresh ideas. I don’t know of any company that would allow their people to stay doing the same things for long periods of time.”
He added the he supports term limits at all levels of government.
…. In November 2005,”The public wants term limits, and if that’s what they want, we should all learn to live with ‘em.”
“It is simply inappropriate” for incumbents to change a law “in a manner that may work to their own advantage," he said in his veto message.
