Politics

NEW YORK (CBS) ― It's official: Mayor Michael Bloomberg is seeking a third term, and it's because of the Wall Street meltdown and because his aides say that people from all walks of life have said, "Run Mike, Run!"

"I have loved every day that I have served as mayor. There is no greater honor than being able to make a difference in people's lives," Bloomberg said during a noon news conference on Thursday.

Although he was once against changing term limits, Bloomberg is going to introduce a bill in the City Council next week to give him and dozens of other term-limited politicians the option to run for four more years, extending term limits to 12 years instead of eight.

Moreover, he says Wall Street's implosion needs his financial know-how.

"The question for me has become much less about the theoretical and much more about the practical. And so to put it in very practical terms, handling this financial crisis while strengthening the central services such as education and public safety is a challenge I want to take on for the people of New York," Bloomberg said.

The mayor denied it was ego, denied it was a power grab, said it's just giving New Yorkers another person to choose from when they go to the polls.

"If the City Council should vote to amend term limits, I plan to ask New Yorkers to look at my record of independent leadership and then decide if I've earned another term. As always, it will be up to the people to decide, not me," he said.

Congressman Anthony Weiner and Comptroller William Thompson, who both want to run for mayor next year, were among the harshest critics of the move.

"This is the quintessential inside deal between two ends of City Hall, substituting for the judgment people made in two referendums," Weiner said.

Added Thompson: "I really think that in a city where the voters have spoken in two occasions, it really is an attempt on his part to try to undermine democracy."

Council Speaker Christine Quinn, who was going to run for mayor, now says she'll seek another term on the council if the legislation passes. She defended the decision to do the change by legislation instead of a public referendum.

"Changing term limits legislatively is a power that the City Council has and I believe it is a power that if we decide to use it, it's appropriate to use if that's the decision we make. So I don't believe this can only be redirected by the voters," she said.

The council will caucus on the bill on Monday, but if you do the math, it looks good for Bloomberg – you only need 26 votes to pass the bill, and 35 members of the council are term-limited.

The current law limits the mayor to two four-year terms. He was elected two months after Sept. 11 and then cruised to a landslide in 2005 after spending tens of millions of his own fortune.

Gov. David Paterson offered his endorsement of the idea, calling Bloomberg "an exceptional leader," although he called the term limits question "a local issue for the city of New York to resolve."

A group of influential business leaders and powerbrokers, including Goldman Sachs Group CEO Lloyd Blankfein, JPMorgan Chase Chairman James Dimon and Henry Kissinger, took out ads in city newspapers urging the council to amend the law to allow for more than two four-year terms.

Bloomberg is almost certain to face a legal challenge if he tries to seek a change to the law. Several lawyers and good government groups said they are mulling legal action to block any changes without the approval of voters, who have twice voted to support the cap.

Norman Siegel, a well-known civil liberties lawyer, said Wednesday that he has received calls from several people urging him to file a suit, including one political candidate whose campaign plans would be disrupted by such a move.

"The legal question is, can you undo a public referendum by legislative fiat?" Siegel said, promisingn "a hard look" at a legal challenge.

Other lawyers also geared up to take action.

"Lawyers all around the city are going over this with a fine-toothed comb," said Gene Russianoff, a senior attorney for the New York Public Interest Research Group.

Veterans of similar battles, however, say Bloomberg's opponents might not find much solace in the courts.

State and federal judges in New York have a history of rulings that would seem to affirm the council's authority to extend or repeal term limits without going back to the voters.

A state appeals court ruled in 1961 that Buffalo's city council could legally repeal voter-approved term limits without holding a new referendum.

A lower-level appeals court backed New York City's council when it made minor alterations to the term limits law in 2002 to erase a quirk that would have limited some of its members to no more than six consecutive years in office, rather than eight.

"This isn't a close case. This is open and shut," said Robert Joffe, an attorney who helped represent the council during that legal battle.

He said courts have repeatedly held that legislative bodies in New York have a right to repeal old laws in favor of new ones.

"A law is a law, and it doesn't matter if it was passed by the City Council, or by referendum. They have the same weight," Joffe said.

Raymond Dowd, another attorney involved in the 2002 court battle, also saw few opportunities for a successful challenge.

"It sounds to me like they would have a really, really tough time," he said, although he added that the stakes were so high, an attempt to get the courts to intervene might be worth the long-shot odds.

Siegel acknowledged that the legal fight may be tough, and he cautioned that any members of the public opposed to term limit changes should make their voices heard now.

"We need to make clear in the court of public opinion ... that any change would be undoing the people's will."

(© 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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