Brooklyn County Committee Members And Council Member James Want Voters To Decide On Term Limits

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Let the voters decide!

Yesterday, I joined members of the Kings County Committee and Council Member Letitia James on the steps of City Hall to demand that any changes to the City's term limits law be put before the voters to decide. 35 members of the Committee had previously signed an open letter opposing Mayor Bloomberg's self-serving effort to over-turn the law so that he can run for a third term. Morgan Pehme, a.k.a.
The Brooklyn Optimist and one of the Committee members, made a powerful statement which I am posting below. Please take some time to read it. It's very powerful and a great reminder that elected officials work for us!

I have the great privilege of speaking on behalf of a broad coalition of my fellow Brooklyn Democratic County Committee Members, a number of whom join me today on the steps of City Hall.

We have come together at the seat of our City’s government to give voice to our constituents and to our fellow New Yorkers. We are here to honor the promise we made to the people of Brooklyn when we stood before them on Primary Day and asked them to entrust us with their votes. We promised our neighbors that, if elected, we would speak for them, not for ourselves. We pledged that we would work for them, not for ourselves. And above all, we vowed that we for fight for them, never for ourselves.

Every candidate makes this pledge when they run for office and yet we stand together today before a building filled with elected officials who have failed to honor this covenant with the people. Our Mayor, our Speaker, and so many of our City Council Members have revealed in the past weeks that, in truth, they only ever believed they work for themselves.

Well, we are here today to say “Mister Mayor, Madame Speaker, Members of the City Council, you work for us.”

And if you want to extend term limits, so that you can have the privilege of serving us for another four years, you must put that proposal on the ballot, so we, the voters of New York, can tell you what we want, once and for all.

Now, it would be wrong to excoriate all of our elected officials for their actions over the past weeks. There have been some heroes. I am delighted today to be standing next to one of them: Council Member Letitia James. Council Member James has shown great courage and leadership in standing up to the most powerful men and women in the City and saying to “no” to a legislative change of the term limits law. And in so doing, she has made the people of Fort Greene, Clinton Hill, Crown Heights, Prospect Heights, and all of Brooklyn proud. In recognition of her work on our behalf, I’d like to give the Council Member a special round of “Tish James Silent Applause”.

Council Member James’s colleagues would be wise to follow her example. It is still not too late for the 16 Members of the City Council who are still undecided on term limits to do the right thing.

We urge them to cast a vote for the people.

We urge them to vote “no” on a legislative change to term limits.

Related Posts:

Extending Term Limits? 35 Members Of The Brooklyn Democratic County Committee Say No!

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