One of the unintended consequences of extending the length of term limits is that taxpayers will probably save millions of dollars in campaign matching funds, officials said yesterday.
The Campaign Finance Board, which dispenses the money, had been gearing up for a repeat of the 2001 elections, when term limits first kicked in and elected officials were scrambling for the exits, including 36 of 51 City Council members.
With so many positions up for grabs, a record 355 candidates swarmed the ballot that year.
Records show 280 qualified for $42.3 million in matching funds.
But in 2005, with most incumbents staying put, only 211 candidates competed. Taxpayers forked over just $24.4 million in matching funds to 155 of them – about $18 million less than in 2001.
So far, 178 candidates have signed up for the 2009 election, taking in a combined $37.8 million.
Additional candidates had been in the wings – before Mayor Bloomberg disclosed his plan last week to change term limits so he and all other incumbents could seek third terms.
Experts are now predicting a mass exodus of would-be candidates.
“It’s obvious everybody’s not going to stay in there if they’re running against an incumbent instead of for an open seat,” said veteran political consultant Jerry Skurnik.
In the comptroller’s race, for instance, five candidates hoping to succeed incumbent Bill Thompson raised $8.2 million as of July 15. If Thompson goes for a third term, the field could shrink to zero.
Under the campaign-finance program, candidates who agree to abide by contribution limits are eligible to collect $6 for every $1 they raise, with a maximum $1,050 for the each $175 hauled in.
Contributions above $175 are not matched.
Meanwhile, the mayor, traveling in London, acknowledged he and Ron Lauder, the leading term-limits advocate, had made a deal for a one-time extension.
“Then the lawyers convinced us that that, in fact, would be more challengeable in court than anything else,” Bloomberg said.
So the plan was changed to allow a permanent extension to 12 years, with a new referendum placed on the ballot in 2010 to ask voters if they would prefer eight or 12 years.
“This financial crisis is here, and there’s no way to have a special election [in 2009] that would not be tied up in court for a long time,” Bloomberg said.
Lauder’s spokesman, Howard Rubenstein, said his client is still deciding.
“The term-limits debate is growing more difficult and divisive by the day,” Lauder said in a statement later, adding he’d speak with the mayor when he returns to the city later this week.
Meanwhile, Councilman Peter Vallone Jr. (D-Queens) emerged from a meeting of council members late yesterday saying his colleagues were “split about equally” on whether to proceed with a bill to change term limits.
Sources said some of the 15 members serving first terms expressed concern that while everyone else got to serve 12 years, they’d have to leave after eight years, in 2013.
The sources said Council Speaker Christine Quinn suggested a Charter-revision commission address that issue.