Oct 17, 2008 6:21 am US/Eastern
Former Gov. Cuomo Gets On Bloomberg Term Bandwagon
Joins Koch, Others In Support Of Mayor's Quest To Run For 3rd Term; Opponents, However, Sharpen Attacks
Reporting
Lou Young
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
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Michael Bloomberg, New York City Mayor, testifies about gun control before the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime Terrorism and Homeland Security, Washington, DC
AP
Things got heated at the New York City Council on Thursday, at the first hearing on Mayor Michael Bloomberg's bid to change term limits.
He wants to run for another four years in office, but not everyone is backing the mayor.
The idea has drawn quite a crowd, including some big guns who never liked term limits. Among those backing a change now is former three-term governor Mario Cuomo.
"Didn't they need term limits? They thought that this governor had run out of whatever and they voted me out," Cuomo said. "Now that's perfectly fair and intelligent and they could do it again."
That brought a sharp rebuke from Councilman Charles Barron, D-Brooklyn.
"To be honest with the former governor, I would've rather seen you out in eight years instead of 12 but it's hard to get an incumbent out because of the power of the incumbency. That's a bunch of nonsense and you know it," Barron said.
Three-term Mayor Ed Koch also said Bloomberg should get another term if he wants. Council members, though, seem worried about changing a law that was enacted by referendum.
When asked why this is better than a referendum, Councilman Peter Vallone, D-Queens, told CBS 2 HD, "Each is equal to the other two."
But Bloomberg is asking for the Council to give him what he wants without going to the voters.
The move has infuriated his political opponents, including the man he defeated for mayor back in 2001.
"If Bill Clinton and his supporters, I was one, said you know he should stay because he's probably better than George W. Bush we would've been laughed out of the room," Mark Green said. "Frankly, I don't think the mayor's proposal, in all due respect to the council members who support it, passes the laugh test or the smell test."
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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