Bloomy, Lauder Atoning

via the NY Times

On Wednesday, after coffee and cookies with the mayor at Gracie Mansion, Mr. Lauder issued an eight-sentence statement pledging not to oppose a City Council bill that would endanger his crowning political achievement by extending the limits to three terms for next year’s election. In return, he received a seat on a charter revision commission that is to revisit the term limits issue in 2010 and submit it again to the voters in a referendum.

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And so, with the sun setting and the players adjourning for the Yom Kippur holiday, the latest chapter in the on-again, off-again political life of the enigmatic 64-year-old billionaire came to an abrupt end.

In the interview, Mr. Lauder acknowledged feeling disappointment about the term limits bill. But he said he felt it was for the city’s good, describing the mayor as a man of “brilliant” ideas capable of leading New York City through a recession potentially more devastating than the fiscal crisis of the 1970s, in which the city nearly went bankrupt.

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