{"id":263565,"date":"2021-06-01T03:43:36","date_gmt":"2021-06-01T00:43:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/eric-adams-is-right-not-to-support-nyc-mayoral-term-limits\/"},"modified":"2021-06-01T03:43:36","modified_gmt":"2021-06-01T00:43:36","slug":"eric-adams-is-right-not-to-support-nyc-mayoral-term-limits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/eric-adams-is-right-not-to-support-nyc-mayoral-term-limits\/","title":{"rendered":"#Eric Adams is right not to support NYC mayoral term limits"},"content":{"rendered":"

“#Eric Adams is right not to support NYC mayoral term limits<\/strong>”<\/p>\n

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A group called US Term Limits is upset that Eric Adams, alone among the mayoral candidates, won\u2019t take its pledge to protect New York City\u2019s eight-year term-limit law. Come to think of it, though, 30 years (sort of) of term limits \u00adhaven\u2019t ushered in an era of \u00adenlightened government by the common man.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Gotham got term limits \u00adbecause of another good-government scourge: money in politics. In 1993 and 1996, cosmetics heir Ronald Lauder spent $4 million on two referendums to limit the mayor and other city officials to two four-year terms.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The voters app<\/a>roved both by large margins. Term limits are one of those \u201creforms\u201d that people like \u2014 \u201cthrow the bums out\u201d and all that \u2014 but that doesn\u2019t really fix anything.\u00a0<\/p>\n

What is the problem we\u2019re trying to solve?\u00a0<\/p>\n

Term limits for the US presidency make some sense, to avoid the risk of someone using the trappings of the office to become dictator for life.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Yet there is no risk of someone becoming tin-pot mayor for life in the Big Apple. Before New York got term limits, no mayor had ever served more than 12 years. Fiorello \u00adLaGuardia, Robert Wagner and Ed Koch all had that honor.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Michael
Former NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg scored a third mayoral term, thanks to a City Council maneuver.<\/figcaption>
Jeff Overs\/BBC News<\/a> & Current Affairs via Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Twelve years tends to exhaust anyone as mayor \u2014 but also exhausts the voters. Koch tried for a fourth term but had worn out his welcome. His successor, \u00adDavid Dinkins, wore out his welcome after one term, no term-limits law needed.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Mike Bloomberg, too, scored a third term, thanks to a City Council maneuver that allowed an exception to Lauder\u2019s rule. Ironically, Lauder himself \u00adfavored this special treatment. In 2008, with the national economy in crisis, Lauder said, \u201cI could support the idea of a third term,\u201d because \u201cthe city might go bankrupt\u201d without Bloomberg at the helm: How democratic is this constraint if its biggest champion can break a rule among friends?\u00a0<\/p>\n

Bloomberg served his third term, and can anyone say the city is worse off for it? He then went on his merry way.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Former
Former Mayor Ed Koch tried for a fourth term.<\/figcaption>
AP Photo\/Marty Lederhandler<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

If Mayor de Blasio, with his 28 percent favorability rating, had been allowed another emergency exemption to make a try for 12 years, he would almost certainly lose \u2014 no term limits needed.\u00a0<\/p>\n

What about other offices, like City Council seats?\u00a0<\/p>\n

One argument for term limits is that they push out sclerotic old incumbents in favor of fresh, young \u2014 and more diverse \u2014 faces.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"New
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio\u2019s term limit is coming to an end.<\/figcaption>
EPA\/PETER FOLEY<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

But there are no term limits at the state and federal levels, and still, no one has a sinecure.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n
\"NYC
Former NYC Mayor Robert Wagner Jr. served three terms as mayor.<\/figcaption>
Leo Rosenthal\/Pix Inc.\/Time Life Pictures\/Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

In 2019, AOC beat Rep. Joe Crowley, in Congress for 20 years. She won the old-fashioned way: enthusiastic door-to-door campaigning. The state Legislature is full of new people like Sen. Jessica Ramos and \u00adAssemblywoman Jenifer Rajkumar, who won office by beating incumbents.\u00a0<\/p>\n

On the other hand, Assemblyman Dick Gottfried has represented the West Side for 50 years. But what\u2019s the compelling reason to oust him?\u00a0<\/p>\n

Another goal of term limits is to encourage \u201cregular people\u201d to run for office. If no one can serve more than eight years, we won\u2019t have a permanent political class, the reasoning goes.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It\u2019s nice to think that doctors, grocery-store managers and computer programmers would feel the bug of democracy, run for office, get a few enlightened bills passed and go back to doctoring and programming.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n
\"Mayor
Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia pictured just after winning his bid for a third term as mayor, November 5, 1941.<\/figcaption>
Underwood Archives\/Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Instead, we have musical chairs. Offices such as public \u00adadvocate and borough president exist for no other reason but serve as a place for people termed out of other jobs. Vying for Manhattan beep right now are two termed-out councilmen, Ben Kallos and Mark Levine.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Plus, changing the faces in City Hall once in a while doesn\u2019t fix the politically dependent class. There is no eight-year term limit on being a lobbyist for a shady homeless-services contractor, or being a union leader protecting government jobs, or being a real-estate developer who wants special zoning.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Term limits only ensure the rest of the players know more about how the city works than the elected officials, who are well aware that if they can\u2019t find a new musical chair, they will need a job among the politically dependent class soon enough.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Adams is right not to sign a mindless pledge. The next mayor should merit one term or three depending on his or her performance in office.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"David
David Dinkins, who was voted out of office after just one term, delivers his first speech as mayor, January 2, 1990.<\/figcaption>
AP Photo\/Frankie Ziths, File<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Nicole Gelinas is a contributing editor of City Journal.\u00a0<\/em>\n <\/div>\n

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Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“#Eric Adams is right not to support NYC mayoral term limits” A group called US Term Limits is upset that Eric Adams, alone among the mayoral candidates, won\u2019t take its pledge to protect New York City\u2019s eight-year term-limit law. Come to think of it, though, 30 years (sort of) of term limits \u00adhaven\u2019t ushered in…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":263566,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/05\/eric-adams-term-limits-899.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=1200","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[70897],"tags":[107869,66147,72182,73136,107928],"class_list":["post-263565","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-5-31-21","tag-eric-adams","tag-mayoral-race","tag-mayors","tag-term-limits"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263565","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=263565"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263565\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/263566"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=263565"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=263565"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=263565"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}