The executive director of Citizens Union strongly opposed extending term limits legislatively, and hopes that those City Council members who went along with the rules change face the wrath of voters at the polls tomorrow.
But it may not work out that way. In fact, only a handful of the more than two dozen incumbent City Council members are in anything that could be considered a serious race.
Today, The Post identifies four incumbents worth watching: Diana Reyna, Maria Baez, Helen Sears and Kendall Stewart. All voted to extend term limits. To that list, I’d add Alan Gerson and Darlene Mealy. More on those races shortly.
Citizen Union's executive director, Dick Dadey, said if every incumbent City Council member is re-elected, “I’m not sure you can take much stock in it because it’s a low turnout election. There’s not much excitement about the top of the ticket. And low turnouts always favor incumbents.”
In the comptroller race, Citizens Union is backing John Liu. Two other leading candidates, David Yassky and Melinda Katz, both voted to extend term limits, and the other candidate in the race, David Weprin, opposed the term limits extension, but is seen as having less of a chance of winning.
In the public advocate’s race, C.U. announced they’re backing Bill de Blasio, despite his close association with the Working Families Party, which is under scrutiny for the creative way it has found to coordinate expensive field operations with chosen candidates. (The WFP is also backing Liu.)
C.U. wrote that De Blasio can boost the “office’s effectiveness and visibility” and act “as an effective counter to a strong mayor and active council.”
