Unsafe at Any Speed

What's the rush? It appears that the mayor's trying to set a new land speed record to get his power grab ratified by the city council. According to the NY Post: "Whatever Ronald Lauder does, Mayor Bloomberg plans to rush through a bill this month to permanently amend term limits, sources said yesterday. "They're really fast-tracking it because of the mounting opposition," said one insider."

Ah, yes, the annoying Mr. Lauder. What will the eccentric term limit advocate do? That's the question on the minds of both fans and foes of the extension: "Lauder, a billionaire cosmetics heir, launched the drive for term limits in New York City in 1993. He has been backtracking on a deal - first reported last week by The Post - to support the 12-year change as long a referendum is held to restore term limits to eight years in 2010. "It's something we both agreed to and I think it will work out fine and I'll talk to Ron when I get back [today]," Bloomberg said yesterday in London. But another source said, "I don't think the mayor's chat with Lauder is going anywhere. [Lauder will] probably run a campaign against it."

There's that agreement again ("It's something we both agreed to..."); an illegal inducement if we've ever seen one. But it all could be moot if Lauder goes ahead-and by doing so gives cover to all of the timid ones who hate what the mayor's doing, but are afraid to say so. Calling Randi Weingarten.