Opponents of extending term limits staged a rally on the steps of City Hall today as a last ditch plea to the Department of Justice to get in the way of Mayor Bloomberg's hopes for a third term. Tomorrow is the deadline for the Department to decide whether the term limits extension passed by City Council in November should be tossed out on the grounds that it unfairly impedes minority voters.
Attorney Randy Mastro said to the News, "Since 1993, no minority candidate has ever unseated a white incumbent for any municipal office in New York City It's a textbook case of a civil rights violation." Politicker NY says that Mastro repeated the phrase "two-term white incumbent" several times at the event, referring to Michael Bloomberg and Marty Markowitz, among others. Still, the DOJ is not seen as likely to strike down the Council's extension bill.
Waiting in the wings are other potential candidates for mayor, such as Anthony Weiner, who lost a fair amount of stock last week by announcing his ambivalent intentions and billionaire John Catsimatidis, who was outspent by Bloomberg 70-to-1 during the latest campaign filing finance period.
The only one who seems to be presenting a serious challenge to the mayor these days is City Controller William Thompson, who was at today's rally. When asked why he would need to push for the Department intervention since he has already proclaimed that he can defeat the mayor in a head-on race, Thompson said, "I’m confident I’m going to win for mayor. But this isn’t just about me and it’s not just about the mayoral. This is about other races also...It’s about the City of New York."
