Reforming the Re-election Machine

He was for Extending Term Limits 

after he was against them.

Excerpts from Bloomberg wins 3rd term as NYC Mayor:    . . . And New Yorkers were angry that Bloomberg reversed his long-held support for term limits last year and persuaded the City Council, in a matter of weeks, to extend the law so he could run for a third term.

Thompson [Bloomberg's opponent] sought to stoke that resentment, but it was not enough. He did not make a strong, separate case for why he should be elected.

Many Thompson supporters said Tuesday that term limits was the single reason why they voted for him.
Jason Gerald supported Bloomberg in 2005 but voted for the Democrat this year.

"I didn't like the way he overturned term limits," said Gerald, a retired police officer. "He thinks he's the only person who can lead this city."

When Bloomberg announced last year his intention to change the law and run again, he said it was because the city needed his financial expertise to get through the economic meltdown.

An aristocracy of money

Excerpts from Bloomberg wins 3rd term as NYC Mayor:  The mayor was able to target each voter with unique messages using a database managed by Ken Strasma, who was President Barack Obama's national targeting director in 2008.

The data was crucial not only in shaping the campaign's messages, but also for Election Day operations as the campaign tracked voter turnout in every election district. Field workers were rerouted to different areas in Queens to knock on doors and get voters to the polls . . ."

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The god that failed  (Richard Crossman, ed.). As written by Andre Gide: [page 165]  Man cannot be reformed from the outside--a change of heart is necessary--and I feel anxious when I observe all the . . . old layers of society forming again--if not precisely social classes, in at least a new kind of aristocracy, and not an aristocracy of intellect or ability, but an aristocracy of right-thinkers and conformists. In the next generation it may well be an aristocracy of money.

 
"Real Term Limits: Now More Than Ever", by Doug Bandow (Cato Institute)
"The nation's Founders strongly believed in rotation in office. They left term limits out of the Constitution because they did not foresee that politics would become a career for so many people. Short term limits would remedy that mistake. Nothing is more important today than reversing the pernicious rise of a professional political class."



 Reform Congress NOW!