Photograph of Billionaires for Bloomberg at City Hall yesterday A day after City Council Speaker Christine Quinn officially proclaimed her support to support extending term limits from two to three terms, the backlash and uncertainty continues to grow. Mayor Bloomberg's team has apparently been looking for support from unions and religious leaders. Right now, NY1's count of City Council members says 15 members support it, 18 are opposed, and 18 are undecided (26 votes......

City Council Speaker Christine Quinn is currently holding a press conference declaring her support for the mayor's proposal to extend term limits. Her announcement ends Quinn's remaining mum on her official stance since Mayor Bloomberg announced his intentions to maneuver for a third term bid almost two weeks ago. It also reverses the vow she made last year to uphold the two voter referendums in support of term limits. Quinn had originally intended to......

A week after Speaker Christine Quinn said that the Council doesn't typically write in any "Lauder" options into its legislation, critics are saying that Mayor Bloomberg's proposal to extend term limits has done just that. The mayor's proposal introduced Tuesday has been amended to explicitly say that the law will revert back to two terms if voters come out in favor of the current law in a 2010 referendum. Lauder, the most vocal backer of......

The NY Times starts the guessing game about how much Mayor Bloomberg will spend to ensure a third term in office. He spent $74 million in 2001 and $84 million in 2005, and a source floated $80 million as a mere starting point. Plus: "At least $20 million of that money would be used to pound away at the man the advisers believe will be his most likely opponent, Representative Anthony D. Weiner, a Democrat......

Billionaire term limits proponent Ronald Lauder (pictured, far right) confirmed his support for Mayor Bloomberg's and the City Council's legislation to add another term to term limits--and expressed his hope it would be overturned after (presumably) Bloomberg was re-elected. Lauder told the NY Times that he believes term limits will go back to two after a voter referendum in 2010, "To me, this is a temporary solution." However, Lauder also referred to the economic crisis,......

Yesterday, the City Council introduced the bill that would permanently extend term limits from two terms to three. The Daily News spoke to "opponents of the bill" who says the legislation is "being rushed through"--and may come up for a vote in two weeks. A source confirms to the Post, "They're really fast-tracking it because of the mounting opposition." In fact, Ronald Lauder, who supports the concept of Mayor Bloomberg serving a third term but......

While Governor David Paterson and Senator Hillary Clinton were on hand to honor ten fallen firefighters from across the state (including four from NYC) at a ceremony in Albany, naturally the two lawmakers were asked about term limits. According to the Times Union's Capitol Confidential, Paterson said, "I don't really have an opinion on term limits," (aside from loving the idea of a third Bloomberg term) but added, "What we've got to be in government......

City Council Speaker Christine Quinn just had a press conference and only said that the Council has discussed the issue--she didn't have any further statement--according to NY1. Legislation was introduced today, and it'll be "referred to a committee, followed by a public hearing, and then a possible vote." City Councilman Bill de Blasio said of Council support, "I think it's very, very evenly split, literally. Some very strong 'no' voices, some very strong 'yes' voices,......

Today, the NY Times reports that billionaire Ronald Lauder opposes Mayor Bloomberg's and the City Council's plan for legislation to permanently extend term limits from two four-year terms to three four-year terms. But the NY Post reports\ that Lauder, who help fund the initiatives to introduce term limits in the first place, made a deal with Bloomberg where Lauder would "support legislation...in exchange for a guaranteed seat on a Charter-revision commission." Lauder told the Times,......

Yesterday City Council members Bill de Blasio and Letitia James announced alongside mayoral candidate Anthony Weiner that they plan to introduce counter legislation to the council's bid to extend term limits on their own by sending the issue back to voters to decide in a special election this spring. The mayor's office said that it doesn't support such an election because they worry that it might not hold up legally, that the Department of Justice......

After Mayor Bloomberg announced he definitely would run for a third term if the City Council passed legislation adding a third term to existing term limits, the City Council announced that the legislation would be introduced on Tuesday. However, the Council bill will ask to make the addition of a third term permanent, versus just until 2013, as most-of-the-time term limits proponent Ronald Lauder suggested. City Council Christine Quinn said, "We typically don't write......

After Mayor Bloomberg made it clear he'd run for a third term if the City Council passes legislation to extend term limits to three terms, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn held a press conference. First, the legislation would permanently extend term limits to three. Second, she wouldn't run, "If term limits are extended to 12 years from 8 years, no, I would not run for mayor." As for other mentioned 2009 hopefuls, City Comptroller Bill......

Mayor Bloomberg formally announces that he will work with the City Council on legislation to add another term to the two-term term limits and, if it passes, he will sign it and run for mayor in 2009....

The Post reports that notable independent Mayor Michael Bloomberg will "likely...create a new third party for his re-election bid next year, while also seeking support from major parties." Ah, that's the opportunist mayor we know, who changed from a Democrat to a Republican in time for the 2001 election and then shed the GOP coat to go beyond partisan politics last year! The Mayor is expected to make his third term announcement at noon today.......

Brooklyn's biggest cheerleader, Borough President Marty Markowitz, has been a rumored possible candidate for mayor next year, but CityRoom finds out he's fine with a third term for Mayor Bloomberg--if only because that could mean a third term for him as Beep. Markowitz said he would reapply, if term limits are overturned, "I always said that this was my dream job. And to be able to do it for four more years would thrill me,......

As to be expected, there's divided opinion on Mayor Bloomberg's expected announcement that he will purse a third term as mayor. In one corner, big business is happy. The NY Times reports that "executives like the financier Steven Rattner, the developer Jerry I. Speyer and the media mogul Rupert Murdoch have encouraged him to seek a third term." (Bloomberg also spoke to Murdoch, Mort Zuckerman and Arthur Sulzberger Jr., the three big newspaper publishers in......

It's happening: Mayor Michael Bloomberg will reportedly announce that he will seek a third term on Thursday. The NY Times writes, "The extraordinary move promises to upend New York City’s political world.." Three people tell the Times that the billionaire mayor will "propose trying to revise the city’s 15-year-old term limits law, which would otherwise force him and dozens of other elected leaders out of office in 2009." And he will use the financial......

Any third term aspirations Mayor Bloomberg has got a vote of confidence from fellow billionaire Ronald Lauder--who funded the previous campaigns to implement term limits. Lauder told the Post, "I've been reading that Mayor Bloomberg might be interested in serving a third term. Because of the unprecedented times, this is welcome news. To me, Mayor Bloomberg's brilliance in the financial sector, particularly Wall Street, would be invaluable." He also said, "If it wasn't for the......

Mayor Bloomberg appeared on Meet the Press to talk the economy, and he said Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson was the right man for the job (for right now). Bloomberg also touted more transparency, "The first thing we need is more disclosure, visibility. The problem is that nobody knows what any institution owns and what the terms of the securities they own are and what they are worth. If that was out in the public......

The faltering fortunes of Wall Street and its implications for NYC bring up a new question: Can this crisis make a case for a third Bloomberg term? After all, he did manage the city after September 11. City Council member Eric Gioia, who is against changing term limits without a voter referendum, told the NY Times, "There aren’t a lot of people who have his experience, connections and gravitas." But City Council member John Liu......

In order to counter an expected bill from Oliver Koppell to extend term limits, Councilman David Weprin says that he will introduce legislation that only a referendum by voters should change the city's term limits law. Weprin, like Koppell, is among the majority of Council members that will be forced out of office next year, but plans to run for city comptroller. Koppell calls Weprin's proposal “a largely cosmetic attempt at publicity.” While Mayor Bloomberg......

A new detail has come out that may influence the ongoing term limits debate. If term limits are extended from eight to twelve years as is being currently discussed, city council members would be guaranteeing their retirement health insurance, which kicks in after someone has worked for the city for ten years. That lifetime retiree health insurance costs up to $12,600 a year, theoretically putting the entire cost of over $200k each for the city......

Mayor Bloomberg continued to pay lip service to the term limits debate yesterday, saying that he would "think long and hard" about a bill that would extend term limits from two to three. He also said that he would veto a bill to end term limits, a curious declaration since there has been very little serious speculation that such a bill to do away with them altogether is forthcoming. Today's NY Times says that attempts......

People Have Spoken Coalition, a collection of politicians and community leaders, gathered in front of City Hall yesterday to show their support for term limit laws as the City Council inches closer to an attempt at overturning them. The group is prepared to organize rallies and potentially take legal action in order to protect term limits, which have been voted on twice by New Yorkers. At the gathering, state senator Eric Adams said, "The city......

Bronx Councilman Oliver Koppell has taken the next (baby) step towards repealing the city's term limit laws, promising to introduce a bill proposing to extend them within weeks. Previously the Council were waiting for Mayor Bloomberg to confirm he would sign such a bill into law. But Koppell is ready to take the lead in extending the eight-year limit to twelve; he tells City Room that limits “cut off people’s careers in politics, which makes......

The Mayor and City Council have been talking about maybe attempting to extend term limits, but both sides seem to be waiting for the other to make the first move. And that is frustrating other politicians who are running for office. City Comptroller William Thompson Jr., who is running for mayor next year, said, "It is time that the mayor clearly state his position and not continue this charade." And City Councilman John Liu said,......

At this point, the next chapter in the saga of whether Mayor Bloomberg and City Council will make a play to extend term limits is waiting to be written by whichever of the two parties will officially pull the trigger and begin the process. Yesterday on his weekly radio show, Bloomberg hinted again that he would sign a proposal to extend the current limits for both him and the Council themselves, but refused to commit......

Mayor Bloomberg is definitely interested in seeing if the CIty City Council can reverse term limits (or at least change them from two terms to three terms) but there may be many legal challenges ahead. The Sun reports NYPIRG would likely "join a fight against such a vote court," with NYPIRG senior attorney Gene Russianoff pointing out that voters approved term limits in both 1993 and 1996. (The same sentiment was echoed by former public......

Instead of courting New York City voters with a ballot initiative or City Council with legislature to overturn term limits, Mayor Bloomberg first pitched the idea to another group: the owners of the three largest newspapers in New York. In what sounds like a storyline from The West Wing, the NY Times reports that Bloomberg has had private discussions with Rupert Murdoch (NY Post), Mortimer Zuckerman (NY Daily News), and Arthur Sulzberger Jr. (NY Times)......

Mayor Mike sure likes to keep people guessing. Yesterday the mayor altered his position on any extension to the term limits law, saying that he would consider a change to the rule that will force him out of office next year if City Council were to send a bill his way. Less than a year ago, the mayor said he thought that the council should be stripped of its ability to extend term limits, which......