I know that many persons testifying at today's City Council hearing on term limits will be speaking mainly on the past 2 voter referenda, why it is self-serving for term-limited council members to try to change this legislatively, etc.

I do believe the stronger argument is to attack the reason for the proposed extension of term limits: the economy.

The Wall Street Journal did the work that the local daily newspapers could not be bothered with. Pick up a copy of today's Journal and in the Op-Ed look for "New York Will Survive Without Bloomberg". For those of you that subscribe to the online edition, click here for the piece.

There are very serious questions that need to be answered by the mayor and the council. I wrote about this in response to a previous post and will paraphrase here:

1. Why hasn't the mayor laid out his plan for helping the economy recover right now? What is he planning on doing over the next 13 months of his term to help the local economy besides cutting city agency budgets?

2. What exactly will the council do right now to help the economy, both citywide and in their respective districts? 2/3 have 13 months left, but all are up for reelection next year. What were they doing the past 7 years to improve their local economies strategically in ways that would withstand the long-predicted economic downturn?

3. Why is an extension of term limits (that uses the economy as the basis) even being considered without presenting the public with the answers to the above questions?

So far, no convincing argument has been presented on the subject of the city's economy by either the mayor or the council.

It seems to me that since the economy is the basis of the mayor's argument, this is what needs to be picked apart.

My guess is that the argument won't hold up, leaving the true intentions exposed to the public: they just don't want to give up their jobs.

The Journal should be commended for putting this issue in perspective for voters, ECONOMIC perspective, and doing its part to educate readers on the mayor's history of fiscal management to date.

Let's make sure we ask the right questions over the next couple of days and not put all the focus on voter referendum vs.  legislative action. Lauder and others made the economic downturn the basis of their argument. Show them that this really has no basis (ESPECIALLY for the council members).

Room 8 readers: Do any council members have a decent track record on helping their district's economy? No one seems to be vetting this issue.

Manny Burgos