Ron Lauder

City Councilman Peter Vallone, Jr. of Queens, who has not decided how he's going to vote on the term-limits legislation,, said billionaire Ron  read more »

News that Tom Golisano will oppose the change to term limits was, initially, seen as a boost to critics of the plan. But Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer is suggesting a drawback to Golisano’s involvement.

Critics will lose their ability to push a populist argument if t they have their own billionaire supporter, he said.

Critics of Bloomberg's plan to extend term limits have seized on the fact that it hinges on a pact between two billionaires—Bloomberg and term-limits enthusiast Ron Lauder—.

Stringer, in his testimony, said that neither Lauder nor Golisano were elected to office, and therefore that their opinions on the matter shouldn’t carry as much weight as those already in office.  read more »

An interested reader pointed out that the number of major unions in favor of extending term limits, even as the  labor-backed Working Families Party is actively working to oppose the term-limits legislation.

The unions that support the change cite Michael Bloomberg's experience as the reason he's most qualified to lead the city in a fiscal crisis. (That may be true, bur many critics are opposing Bloomberg because of how he went about orchestrating his bid for a third term, not because they don't like his record.)

In any case, one reason the labor groups backing Bloomberg haven't gotten much attention is probably that they aren't doing much organizing, while the opposition has been vocal.  read more »

Two good government groups have filed a Freedom of Information Law request seeking communications between the mayor's office and "any private party" on the issue of term limits.

The request, filed by the New York Public Interest Research Group and Common Cause yesterday, is an attempt to disprove the mayor's official explanation that he only decided in response to the recent Wall Street meltdown to seek a third term, and that there was simply no time to put the term limits issue on the ballot for voters to decide, like they did in 1993 and 1996.

Critics don't believe that, since term limits could have been put on the ballot this fall if the mayor had impaneled the Charter Revision Commission he said he was forming back in January.  read more »

The New York City Bar Association just released a statement opposing the term-limits legislation that the City Council is considering. According to the A.B.A., Michael Bloomberg's plan would undermine the public's confidence in the legislative process.

From the statement:

"It would indeed be a tall order to convince New Yorkers that in taking this matter unto themselves after having been twice affirmed by the voters, that the Council members had only the public interest at heart.  In short, a change in term limits by legislative action would be bad policy, contrary to principles of good government and potentially damaging to our City institutions."

Also, Giuliani-era deputy mayor Randy Mastro sent a letter to the city Conflict of Interest Board that called into question the legality of a reported "deal" the mayor struck with term-limits advocate Ron Lauder and City Council Speaker Christine Quinn.

Ron Lauder just released a statement that may complicate the whole term-limits debate.

In short, it says that he met with Michael Bloomberg today and will "reluctantly" support a change to the law that would allow elected officials to serve for three terms in office, instead of only two.

But, Lauder says he will "vigorously" work to change the law back to a two-term limit when the issue is put before voters in a 2010 referendum.

Pushing to revert back to a two-term limit may end up angering first-term City Council members, like Jimmy Vacca, who will only get eight years in office, while their colleagues one cycle ahead would get 12.  read more »

State Senator Liz Krueger, a Democrat from the East Side with a penchant for good-government policy, thinks there’s something wrong with how the debate about term limits is playing out in the public sphere.

“Ron Lauder opposes. Bloomberg supports. News at 11,” she said sarcastically. “Thank you! It’s nice to hear from you too, now can we hear from the other eight million people?”

Krueger went on, “No disrespect to either of them, but they’re two people. This is a city of eight million. Should two guys be the determining factor, rather than the actual public?”

Bloomberg is pretty popular in her district, she said, which is full of reform-minded Democrats who work in business.  read more »

Unofficially, the bill to change the city’s term-limits law will pass the City Council with about 35 votes in favor, according to Majority Leader Joel Rivera, who spoke to me on the City Hall steps after the Council's Democratic caucus meeting.

As far as what divides the two camps, Rivera said there isn’t much of a split between members who will be term-limited out of office if the law doesn't change, and those that could run for re-election this year. The split, he said, fell along ideological lines: those who are willing to change the law legislatively through a Council vote, and those who think it needs to go before the voters.  read more »

Michael Bloomberg’s deference to cosmetics heir Ron Lauder on the issue of term limits is striking, considering that Lauder has never actually been a public elected official. Lauder's involvement -- and apparently, his right to have an outsized say in the city's position on the matter going forward -- is based entirely on the fact that he has a significant personal fortune to back up his advocacy.  read more »

Michael Bloomberg is very popular, has billions of dollars, and wants to change the city's term-limits law. Ron Lauder is not as well known, has billions of dollars and (basically) wants to preserve term limits.  read more »

So, what happened with the city’s Charter Revision Commission between January 17, when the mayor announced he would create one, and October 5, the day Howard Rubenstein announced that the mayor intended to make Ron Lauder  read more »

Now that Ron Lauder is on board with a third Bloomberg term, the mayor has cleared a major hurdle for another bid, but there are a few details he would need to work out.

Unlike during his two previous mayoral campaigns, Bloomberg is no longer a member of any political party. If he were to run, he'd need to either get permission from a major party to run on its line, or run on a line that he creates himself.

Frank Morano, head of the Staten Island chapter of the Independence Party and huge supporter of Bloomberg's presidential non-bid, declined to say if he would support Bloomberg running on his party's line.  read more »

Two top mayoral contenders, Bill Thompson and Christine Quinn, were not available to comment this morning on the interview Ron Lauder just did with the Post. A spokesman for Thompson declined to comment, and a spokesman for Quinn said she was unavailable for comment [clarified].

Lauder told the paper he would support a one-time extension of term limits so Michael Bloomberg can be mayor again. Lauder, who nearly single-handedly brought term limits around, was considered a potential obstacle if Bloomberg did decide to run again.

I’m still waiting to hear back from a spokesman to Anthony Weiner; his campaign has previously said  read more »

Last night Evelyn and Leonard Lauder hosted an engagement party for Tommy Hilfiger and fiancée Dee Ocleppo at the Neue Gallery on 86th and Fifth Avenue.

New York Social Diary reports that the evening was attended by Condé Nast's part owner Donald Newhouse and wife Susan, Oprah gal pal Gayle King, Cinema Society founder Andrew Saffir, Clive Davis, Russell Simmons, and socialites Bettina Zilkha and Diana Picasso.  read more »