Andy announced the news that Our Fair Mayor Bloomberg wants a third term by guessing that heads were exploding at the UFT. Here’s another reaction I wanted to see: Joel Klein’s. This NY1 story captures his statement when word first broke that Bloomberg was probably going to do it. More tellingly, NY1 captures the look on Klein’s face. Scroll to the very end of the video to watch. And here’s what he said, through a wide grin:
“Well we’ll wait and see what the mayor does, right,” said Klein. “The mayor will decide in his time how to deal with this and then we’ll wait and see.”
What does the smile mean? If you consider that Klein almost certainly gets to keep his job if Bloomberg stays on as mayor, a guarantee that would be thrown in major jeopardy if other candidates win, then Joel was smiling because he couldn’t contain his relief: He’d get to keep his job! The work he believes is transforming the city’s public schools would continue! However, if you consider that Joel Klein has been mulling his own mayoral run, as I and the Observer both reported, the smile starts to look a little different.
~ Guest blogger Elizabeth Green
Elizabeth,
Great to hear from you. I will point out that the mayor’s desire for a third term will make it harder for him to achieve renewal of all of his autocratic powers over schools. Just Friday we had a large rally on the steps of City Hall with many parents and electeds. A clear message from the Assembly members present was that the mayor’s failure to address the overcrowding crisis was imperiling his desire to renew control of the schools. All this talk of a third term will bring intense scrutiny of the mayor’s record on education which, as you and I well know, is not nearly as good as the incessant press releases and cheerleading from this space would have one believe.
Patrick
Mayoral control sunsets 6/30/09 unless the NYS legislature renews … in spite of Bloomberg’s high voter popularity in the city, legislators, who he and Klein have treated with disdain, have little luv. It may have been easier with Bloomberg/Klein out of the picture … they could have renewed for a year and dealt w/ “the new guy/gal” … w/ the distinct possibility of another Bloomberg/Klein term it is more likely they will make changes … with the spector of huge budget cuts at the State and City level much more conflict re what gets cut … and, oh yes, somebody is getting elected on Novemver 4th