This guy is beginning to believe his own press releases........
How can he "weight his options" when he has no options - for it is No
Third Term.....
He is high now on the heap there is no place to go but down - for when
the City is overy the shock questions and more questions and lawsuits
.....
Why can't I get that guy with the 99 year least off my mind? Well you
see it is illegal to sell this property outright hence the long term
lease.....so there was a dispute with taxes and etc., and guess who will
end up losing out?
So it is the Mayor attempting to change the law? So he got his 1.5
million dollar command center in the event of an emergency - guess it
was built at the World Trade Center and it most certainly did nothing to
enhance the security for the sitting ducks in the "Twin Towers"......
Fame is fleeting....
Saba
Giuliani weighs options, including third term bid
Associated Press
ALBANY, N.Y., September 29 - Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, having failed to
get three mayoral candidates to agree on temporarily extending his term,
weighed options Friday, including a re-election run.
A New York City term-limits law seemingly stands in the way.
One top adviser, speaking only on condition of anonymity, said that in
light of Democratic candidate Fernando Ferrer's refusal to agree to a
three-month term extension for the mayor, Giuliani was focusing more
seriously on a bid for a third term.
Meanwhile, the leader of the state Conservative Party, Michael Long,
said he was ready to hand his party's Nov. 6 ballot line for mayor over
to Giuliani.
Long said if the mayor decides to seek a third term, "regardless of the
court fights, regardless of the challenges, we're going to move forward
with this."
Long said later Friday, after talking briefly with Giuliani deputy
Joseph Lhota, that plan appeared to be on track, if the temporary term
extension didn't materialize.
"Our first option is the three-month extension. We are hopefully trying
to make that work," Lhota said after his talk with Long. "Obviously, the
option of the Conservative Party is the second option.
The first is the most desirable option and we are working toward that
end."
But Lhota said he and the mayor had spent much of Friday attending
funerals and had no time to work on the political side of the equation.
All Giuliani would say during a Friday morning update on the World Trade
Center recovery effort was that he planned to think about his political
future and talk to Gov. George Pataki and state legislative leaders
about it.
"If they can all work it out, God bless 'em," the mayor added.
While Giuliani maintained "there are really more important things to
think about," his aides and advisers continued to work behind the scenes
to decide how best to keep the mayor in office.
Given the widespread praise of his handling of the Sept. 11 terrorist
attacks, there has been considerable support for Giuliani staying on as
mayor.
But a law adopted by city voters in 1993 bars a mayor from serving three
consecutive terms. Earlier attempts to repeal that law have failed with
voters and with City Council.
This week, Giuliani sought agreement from the three major party
candidates for mayor on a plan that would allow him to stay on for an
extra three months.
Democrat Mark Green, who faces Ferrer in an Oct. 11 primary runoff, and
Republican candidate Michael Bloomberg agreed.
But without Ferrer's support, the term extension was given little chance
of winning the needed approval of the state Legislature because of
opposition from minority lawmakers in the Democratic-controlled
Assembly. Bronx Borough President Ferrer, if elected, would become the
city's first Hispanic mayor.
Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver said Giuliani called him Friday morning
and asked if he would consider legislation that would allow the mayor to
stay in office an additional three months.
"He said if he got the three months, he would stop consideration of a
third term," Silver said. "I told him I'd take it up with my
(Democratic) conference."
Silver said both Houses of the Legislature are expected return to Albany
by Oct. 15 -- four days after the runoff -- and lawmakers would consider
Giuliani's request then.
State Assemblyman Roger Green, head of the Legislature's Black and
Puerto Rican Caucus, said Friday that while Giuliani had gained much
respect for his handling of the disaster, "to jury-rig the system at
this point in time for one person's political ambition doesn't serve the
mayor well or the city well."
Long said he and Giuliani had dinner Wednesday to discuss the mayor's
plan for a term extension and, as an alternative, having the mayor run
as the Conservative Party's candidate.
Long said Giuliani "made it clear that if this unity pact didn't come
together on extending his term that he would seek another term."
While Long and the moderate Giuliani have had serious political and
philosophical differences in the past, the party chairman said Friday,
"America is at war."
"When America is at war all the ground rules change," Long said. "The
city is under siege and the general population feels very comfortable
with Rudy at the helm."
While he expects any move to put Giuliani on the Conservative Party
ballot line would lead to court wrangling, Long said it could be
accomplished.
Nonetheless, there remains the matter of the term-limits law. Given that
impediment, there was even talk Friday among some Giuliani loyalists of
having the mayor resign at the very end of the year so he wouldn't serve
two full terms as mayor and possibly be able to get around the
term-limits ban.
But one mayoral adviser said such an idea "might be too cute for the
mayor or for the judges."
Also Friday, there was behind-the-scenes maneuvering to determine if
Democrat Alan Hevesi, the city comptroller who finished fourth in this
week's five-way Democratic mayoral primary, might somehow be shifted off
the Liberal Party's mayoral ballot line for the Nov. 6 election in favor
of Giuliani.
Liberal Party leader Raymond Harding, a Giuliani confidant, refused to
discuss that notion and a call to Hevesi's top political adviser, Hank
Morris, was not immediately returned Friday.
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