Hopelessly De-Voted

As City Room blog is reporting, the city council has schedule a term limits vote for Thursday-a lock that they have the votes to pass the mayor's bill: "The City Council has scheduled a Thursday vote on a bill that would extend term limits to allow Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and other city officials to seek a third term in office, nullifying the outcome of two public referendums, in 1993 and 1996, that imposed term limits."

It's also instructive that the alternative legislation will not be sent up for a vote-probably because it wouldn't even get past the committee in order to go to the floor: "Over 19.5 hours of hearings on Thursday and Friday, the committee heard testimony on two bills: the mayor’s and an alternative, sponsored by Councilman Bill de Blasio and Councilwoman Letitia James, that would require a public referendum on term limits...Eric J. Kuo, a spokesman for Mr. Felder, who heads the committee, said that the de Blasio-James bill “will not be considered for a vote at this time.”

Or any other time we're pretty sure. All of which sets the stage for a raucous political upheaval, one whose consequence is unknowable; we're in the most uncharted of waters. Our view, however, is that this decision could well turn out to be momentous-with the mayor's legacy tarnished and in the balance. Everything that he touches from now on in, could well be refracted through this newly soiled lens. We are going to see just how much good will the mayor can purchase in the months ahead.