Hitting Anti-Term Limit Rodents With An Email Campaign

Online petitions rarely make an impact on politicians like George Bush and Dick Cheney, even if they have half a million names on it protesting one illegal action or another. New Yorkers for Term Limits went ahead anyway with one of their own to target local City Councilman Oliver Koppell, who is vociferously trying to allow two-thirds of the City Council to run for re-election again, including himself. Many New Yorkers are pissed off at his and others attempt at changing the will of the voters that enacted the two-term limit on elected offices in the city and now is the time to act, or more appropriately, react. Here's why the ire is directed at Oliver's way.

From The Daily Politics:

New Yorkers for Term Limits sent the e-mail that appears below to some 11,000 people in Councilman Oliver Koppell's Bronx district earlier this week, directing recipients to "please tell Koppell to keep his hands off New York's Term Limits Law!"

Koppell isn't the only person advocating for the extention of term limits. But he is the driving force (aside from Mayor Bloomberg, that is) behind the effort and has asked for a bill to be drafted that would extend the current limit of two four-year terms to three.

Nelson Warfield, a media consultant to New Yorkers for Term Limits, said the effort is limited to the e-mails at the moment, but the councilman "can expect more." As to why Koppell is being targeted, Warfield said:

"It's like Ground Hog Day, everybody pays attention to the first rodent to stick his head out of the ground."

Mr. Warfield is to be commended for his choice of words. While Albany has their bloodsuckers, the city has its share of rodents, whether they work at City Hall or below it.

Here's Liz's photo of the email, but you can simply write to Koppell or call his office at 212-788-7078 to tell him what you think of his attempt to subvert the will of the voters. Since Koppell's term is up next year and he has to serve his own self-interest, he's skipping the opportunity to put the issue to a vote in a city-wide election. So while's he's busy maneuvering to get this passed while trying not to make Bloomberg look like an ass in the process (he needs the Mayoral seal of approval ya know?), lets make sure we keep his office tied up as much as possible.

Tony Avella Comes Down On The Right Side Of Term Limits

Mayoral candidate and Councilman Tony Avella is known as a reformer and agent of change in the New York City Council. On the issue of term limits though, he wants things to remain the same unless of course the voters decide to do things differently. While no one wants to explicitly repeal the law, they are more than a few that are thinking of extending it. Avella's bill would put an end to that type of talk.

From The NY Daily News:

Council Speaker Christine Quinn is being put on the spot with warring term limits bills.

A bill by Bronx Councilman Oliver Koppell calls for allowing term-limited incumbents to run next year for a third, four-year term.

A second bill, from Queens Councilman Tony Avella, would bar any change without a voter referendum.

"If they write the bill for Koppell, they better damn well write mine [too]," said Avella.

With a little bit of legislative maneuvering, Koppell's bill can be sidelined while either Avella's can be adhered to or both could be discarded. Of course, the way things pan out has a lot to do with the politics that both currently term-limited Speaker Quinn and Mayor Bloomberg decide to do.

Quinn - who as speaker has the power to keep a bill that is written and presented to the Council from coming to a vote - and Mayor Bloomberg insist that they have yet to discuss changing term limits.

Bloomberg stoked the flames this week by vowing to veto any bill repealing term limits, but said he would "think long and hard" about legislation permitting term-limited incumbents, like himself, to run again.

Also facing limits are 34 Council members, including Quinn, who once opposed changing the law but now refuses to say if she would permit a vote on the matter.

Quinn, Koppell and Bloomberg probably wanted this to float in under the radar but it didn't work out that way for them. Now the question is how much public pressure has to be exerted before they back off from trying to change the will of the voters. If legislation is passed in this matter, Avella's bill is one that reflects the spirit of the original term limits law, not Koppell's attempt to tweak it so he and others can stay in office another four years.

NYC Pols Trying To Repeal Citizen-Enacted Term Limits

Councilman Oliver Koppell is putting his neck out for many of New York's elected officials (and himself too) that want to remain in office past the date that term limits set for them. If you remember, it was the people of New York that voted to set term limits for politicians that get elected to office in our city. Now a little more than half the council is in support of extending the limits by four years (to twelve) and by stroking Mayor Bloomberg's ego, they might just pass the extension. Oh and by the way, their reasoning is pathetic.

From The Gothamist:

Bronx Councilman Oliver Koppell has taken the next (baby) step towards repealing the city's term limit laws, promising to introduce a bill proposing to extend them within weeks. Previously the Council were waiting for Mayor Bloomberg to confirm he would sign such a bill into law. But Koppell is ready to take the lead in extending the eight-year limit to twelve; he tells City Room that limits “cut off people’s careers in politics, which makes no sense.” He would like to see Speaker (and potential mayoral candidate) Christine Quinn introduce the bill, but says he will go forward with it if she does not. The Council would then have sixty days to decide whether to send the bill forward to the mayor, but Koppell claims such a bill could pass through Council "within twenty-four hours."

Um Oliver, you have got to be kidding me on that one right? First of it is the right of the people to change a law that they enacted. To go behind the backs of the voters of this city is at the very least severely unethical. It should go against the city charter and be illegal. Koppell and the rest of the supporters should be ashamed of this. If they really feel so strongly about extending the term limits or abolishing them, then go to the voters. Instead we see this dirty maneuver that testifies to the reason term limits were put established in the first place.

Clueless Councilman Koppell

I know that several subway lines run up to the Bronx, but it seems one of their representatives in the City Council has never ridden on one before. As talk about providing cell service in subway stations seems to be turning into action, one of our City Councilmen prove that he has no idea what he is talking about.

From The Daily News:

City Council members urged the MTA Thursday to create "quiet cars" on subways so riders can avoid listening to other straphangers yammer on cell phones after stations are wired.

Councilman Oliver Koppell (D-Bronx) noted "long-haul" rail lines already use the "quiet cars."

"You may say, 'People won't listen.' But there's a tendency for self-policing in that system," Koppell said at a Council hearing.

Koppell said straphangers would have to make sure the rules are enforced on the "quiet cars."

"So, if you have a quiet car ... and someone gets on and starts talking on the cell phone, other passengers will say, 'This is a quiet car, please turn off the cell phone,'" Koppell said. "Generally, that works."

I question if Koppell has ever been a straphanger before. Unless you ride the subway in the middle of the night, there is no such thing as a "quiet car." Cars that get jammed pack are full of noisy riders, which is why I keep my iPod handy when transversing the city. No one is going to "self-enforce" these rules either, as the Gothamist notes, people do not show too much courtesy when it comes to giving seats up for women with children or the elderly.

If people started using their phones while riding, it would barely add to the decibel noise down there. Of course, if he had actually read about the proposal, he would have noticed that cell service is only being talked about in stations, not in the tunnels. Therefore, there is no way to enforce a "quiet car" if you do not get reception anyways. As for riding above ground out in the boroughs, people use their phones whenever and wherever they please, no one cares if someone is talking on the phone, as people talk amongst themselves while riding.

Councilman Koppell seriously needs to get a clue about how things work down underground.