World - US;NY mayor wins chance for 3rd term

Edith Honan

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Mayor Michael Bloomberg signed a term-limit extension law on Monday that will allow him to run for a third term next year and earn a chance to guide New York City through the global financial crisis.

Bloomberg's backers hail him as the right man to guide one of the world's financial capitals through uncertain times, while critics accuse him of a naked power grab using the financial crisis as a pretext.

The original bill, passed by the city council on October 23, allows the New York mayor, the 51-member council and other elected officials to seek three 4-year terms, up from two.

The vote reversed two public referenda imposing term limits and passed with the support of a majority of the council, including members who otherwise would have been barred from re-election next year.

"I feel that this time, the public should have a choice," Bloomberg, a former Wall Street trader and self-made billionaire who was elected in 2001 and in 2005, said of running for re-election again.

The formal signing came after four hours of public testimony from more than 100 elected officials, private citizens and good government groups. Some called the law essential but many called it appalling, often in heated terms.

"You have the money and the power and you're just trying to use your money to keep the power," said Ronnie Colangelo, 52, who said he has voted for Bloomberg in previous elections but had been turned off by the term-limits issue.

Bloomberg's legacy as a reform-minded champion of open, nonpartisan governance may have been tarnished in the process, one speaker said.

"He has diminished his own reputation as a nonpartisan," said Gene Russianoff, a lawyer for the New York Public Interest Research Group and a frequent ally of the mayor.

"The question is, how much harder will it be for him to govern in an environment where he's just seen as another politician desperately trying to hang onto their job."

But one expert said that Bloomberg, who is expected to spend as much as $80 million on his re-election, is almost certain to win a third term.

"He's a very popular politician," said Mickey Carroll, director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute. "He has a zillion dollars and he's perfectly willing to spend it. Yes he could lose, but I'm italicizing the could."

A longtime Democrat before becoming a Republican to run for mayor in 2001, Bloomberg then dropped party affiliation after being re-elected in 2005.

He has pledged to create a charter review commission that could potentially roll back the term-limits change.

(Editing by Daniel Trotta and Philip Barbara)