Citizens Union Statement
By Dick Dadey, Executive Director
On Term Limits Issue at Mayoral Bill Signing

Citizens Union has supported you and much of what you have accomplished as Mayor. We believe that the city has benefited mightily from your leadership and have been pleased to have worked with you and your administration on a number of issues, reform and otherwise.

For us, the question never was whether the Council and you had the authority to act on term limits. Rather is was, should you? Should you act on a matter in which the voters had already made their position clear, not once, but twice? Citizens Union thought not. On a matter so fundamental to the form of our government and the functioning of our democracy, we believe that the issue deserved to be returned to the voters to make the final judgment. Our position on term limits stems from a belief that when elected officials stand to benefit directly from a measure - they should not be the ones making the rules.

Though we spoke up and made our views clear, the Council and you ultimately disagreed, and we accept that.

In the interest of focusing now on the challenges that the city faces resulting from the fiscal crisis, Citizens Union is ready to turn the page.

As a city, we now need to find the common ground on which we all can stand and work together in making the difficult decisions that lie ahead. You will need to develop a broad consensus in order for you and the Council to act with the support of New Yorkers as you serve the public interest. We urge you, and the Council, to take steps to unite this city after such a divisive fight over the issue of term limits.

Citizens Union stands ready to work with you again on many issues including continued reform of our city and state government, particularly in the area of bringing greater public oversight to the matter of police misconduct, strengthening local governance of our city's schools, ending the partisan gerrymandering of our state legislative districts lines, and bringing much needed change to how our elections are run.

Our city's ability to come together now in light of this fiscal crisis will depend upon how fair we all think the process is in making the necessary tough fiscal decisions. A fair process allows diverse New Yorkers who will disagree on policy and budget issues to come together at the end in common purpose for the good of our city. And we need to do that now more than ever before. The city needs not only your pragmatic leadership, but your active listening and consensus building skills, and that of the Council's, to unite this city in common purpose.

Citizens Union of the City of New York, a nonpartisan force for good government for more than 100 years, works to inform and engage New Yorkers, to ensure local and state government values its citizens, addresses critical issues, and operates in a fair, open, and fiscally sound manner.

299 Broadway, Suite 700, New York, NY 10007-1976
Peter J. W. Sherwin, Chair • Dick Dadey, Executive Director • info@citizensunion.org