New York City Comptroller William C. Thompson, Jr. urges members of the New York City Council to vote against a measure to extend term limits and instead move to put the matter before New Yorkers, at a City Hall hearing on October 17, 2008. Picutred (l to r)are: New York City Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum; New York State Assembly Member Ruben Diaz, Jr.; Thompson; New York State Congress Member Nydia M. Velazquez; and, New York State Assembly Member Hakeem Jefferies.

View the Comptroller's testimony

In testimony today before the New York City Council’s Government Operations Committee New York City Comptroller William C. Thompson, Jr. adamantly insisted that the public deserves to decide the future of term limits, and not sitting elected officials who stand to benefit from their actions.

“At stake is not whether you support or oppose term limits or an extension of a third term,” Thompson said. “It is not about whether you support Mayor Mike Bloomberg, Speaker Christine Quinn, Comptroller Bill Thompson, or any one individual. 

“It’s a matter of whether a few dozen individuals should decide to overturn the will of New Yorkers who approved term limits twice. At this critical moment in our city’s history, let us raise our sights beyond the petty politics of City Hall and focus on the communities we represent.”

You can view Thompson’s full testimony at www.comptroller.nyc.gov.

Since news broke of the Mayor’s plan to dodge a public vote on term limits, Thompson has fervently championed the right of New Yorkers to decide whether the current two terms for City elected officials should be retained or extended by another four-year term.

“At a time when our sole focus as a city should be on our economy, protecting working people, and maintaining quality city services for our citizens, the Mayor has us debating an issue that shouldn’t even be on the table. Even worse, he has proposed a measure that circumventsthe voters and shatters the bonds of trust that are the essence of good government.”

The Comptroller – who first took office in 2002 along with Bloomberg in January 2002 - dismissed arguments that Mayor Bloomberg is uniquely qualified to navigate New York City through the current economic turmoil, stressing that the country is poised to usher in a new president amid a war and fiscal crisis.

Some, he said, “view this economic crisis as an opportunity to further their personal agenda rather than as a challenge to overcome.  And they do it under the guise of ‘public interest,’ by claiming that only the Mayor can deal with the crisis. This argument shows a stunning lack of faith in New Yorkers. Although it is true that the challenges are great, the strength of our people is greater.”

“When the nation lost Franklin Roosevelt during World War II, the largely unknown Harry Truman took office and helped to bring the conflict to a close,” Thompson said. “Today, our country is at war and dealing with the same financial crisis as New York City. Yet, early next year, another man will take the oath of office through a peaceful transfer of authority and America will better off for it.”

Additionally, he noted, New Yorkers registered their opinions when twice casting their votes in the 1990s and deciding the fate of term limits. This process, he said, represented democracy at work.

“The foundation of our democracy is trust and citizens must have faith in this trust,” he said, “faith that their elected officials will put the common interest before their self-interests, faith that government will always put people before politics and the powerful, faith that the voting process will always be equal and open to all who want to be a part of the process, and faith that when the people speak, their government will listen.”

“We are trusted to be guardians of democracy,” he said. “So just think about the negative repercussions that passing Mayor Bloomberg’s bill would have. It would be telling all those who voted for term limits that the choices they made in the booth are not respected, and that, at any time, our government could use its power and influence to ignore the levers they pulled. They would think that their government would rather decide important issues in the shadows of City Hall instead of the voting booth. They would think that their government did not hear or respect their voice.

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