Queens Tribune

The plan to legislatively change the twice-affirmed opinion of the public and extend term limits is inherently undemocratic, is a travesty of governance and, though possibly legal, is abhorrent in nature.

On two separate occasions the voters affirmed that they want the members of the City Council and others in city elective offices – including the mayor – to serve no more than two consecutive terms. The people who sit in every City office today benefited from the public’s decision, and now appear to be acting solely in their own self-interest to trample upon the Democratic will of the citizens they serve.

To argue that a chosen group of sitting officials can best serve this City during our current fiscal crisis, and to restrict the possibilities for change and new ideas that genuine political competition would foster, verges upon an oligarchic form of government – government created by an elite class intended to keep the elite in power.

If term limits are to change, it should be done by the voters through referendum. Any deviation from that strategy is tyranny.