Join Forces With The Optimist Tomorrow for a City Hall Press Conference

Come join the Brooklyn Optimist tomorrow at City Hall and speak out against changing our term limits laws. For those of you who didn't get a chance to testify during the public hearings, now is your chance.

Here's the 411:

WHAT: Elected Members of the Kings County Democratic County Committee and their constituents will be joined by Brooklyn Councilwoman Letitia James to voice their outrage over the Mayor and City Council's proposed legislative change to New York City's term limits law.

WHERE: The steps of City Hall in Manhattan

DATE: Tuesday, October 21st, 2008

TIME: 1 p.m.

Hope to see you there! Come up and introduce yourself, fearless readers.

My Trip to the Circus: Inside the City Hall Term Limits Hearing

In the end, it was all just a bunch of sound and fury signifying nothing.

As I began to approach my third hour sitting in the audience of yesterday's public hearing at City Hall on the extension of term limits, I decided to give up and go home. I had signed up to testify around 5 p.m. and realized that it would be hours more until I would get my chance to do so, once the committee chair Simcha Felder announced at 8:15 that the slate of speakers called to the microphone had submitted their names just a little past 1.

By that time, I had had my fill. I had even gotten to sit in the front row of the audience, once the first three rows were vacated by the Mayor's supporters. These passionate New Yorkers, who were (allegedly) paid by Bloomberg to crowd out citizens who had actually come to testify, finally decided they had done enough half-sleeping and limply holding up signs to satisfy their terms of employment. From this intimate vantage point, I could see Upper East Side Council Member Jessica Lappin (who had her legs up on the wooden crossbar beneath the dais) doing her best impression of "thoughtful", instead of bored. Coney Island Councilman Dominic Recchia didn't bother feigning contemplation. He wore a sneer of contempt for the public.

Queens Councilman Peter Vallone Jr. became immersed in his laptop after a testy exchange in which he set legendary former Councilman Henry Stern straight on what his daddy, former Speaker Peter Vallone, thought about term limits. Said Junior to the stately septuaganarian: "I respect you, but you gotta get out more."

Manhattan Councilman Robert Jackson had a similarly decorous exchange with a Democratic political consultant named Steve Kramer, who had vowed that if the Council extended term limits "we will come after you." Jackson, taking the general threat very personally, launched into an angry tirade which concluded with some permutation of George Bush's "Bring It On!" I was too stunned to copy it down verbatim, but Jackson barked something like "bring it" or "you can bring it on up here".

Yeah. Classy.

For the opposition crowd, Brooklyn Councilwoman Letitia James was the star of the night. She openly applauded passionate anti-extension testimony, despite admonitions from Coucilman Felder not to do so, and delivered a compelling speech slamming the Mayor's record on caring for low-income and minority families.

On the Council's side of the table, the only other moment that resonated with me was a point Minority Leader James Oddo (R - Staten Island) brought up to dispell the notion that deciding the issue in a special election refendum wouldn't represent the will of the people. Oddo reminded that he had first been elected in a special election, as had many of his colleagues, including Tish James (who was seated beside him), and, of course, Council Speaker Christine Quinn (who wasn't there). "Is there an asterisk next to my name?" asked Oddo rhetorically.

All in all, the hearing was predictably disappointing. After the marquis testimonies were given (i.e. the ones by big-name politicians), the Council Members demonstrated little interest in asking the real people of New York any questions.

Just like the digital clock on the wall counting down each person's two minutes to testify, Felder and the rest of the Council knew that time would soon run out on the public.

And then they'd be free to stop pretending they care, and just go back to doing whatever they want.

Don't Expect Change at City Hall (Maybe Bush Should Stick Around Too!)

The Optimist has spent the last couple of weeks talking to City Hall insiders about whether term limits will likely be extended another four years. His conclusion? Mayor Bloomberg and the current City Council class will be sticking around until 2013.

By numerous unofficial counts, there are at least 34 Councilmembers out of a possible 51 in favor of giving themselves another four-year term (a 2/3 majority is necessary to change the current law) and more are likely to cave. It seems that with the economic downturn our fearless Councilmembers think this isn't the best time to go looking for another job.

What does this mean? The hundreds of Council candidates waiting in the wings to swoop into empty seats will be seriously pissed off. Some of them have spent 2, 4, even 8 years diligently going to community meetings, building their lists of contacts, and ingratiating themselves to anyone who would listen. Now the vast majority of them are likely not to run, demoralized by the daunting prospect of facing off against a highly favored incumbent.

And just think about how many consultants, staffmembers, and petitioners will be denied paychecks because of the hotly-contested primaries that now never will occur. Talk about a blow to the local economy!

Of course, a few brave souls will hold fast to their dreams and take aim at toppling an incumbent. I have heard from a few candidates intent upon sticking with it. I wish them the best. Despite the odds, I think they will have a strong case to make to voters that their opponents have demonstrated contempt for the will of the people, who have twice voted in the last decade for term limits.

Is it not the hallmark of tyrants to change laws just so they can keep power? Who among them would have the right to protest if President Bush tried to do the same?