Four More Years! Koppell Likes the Idea.

Oliver Koppell, one of 35 Council members who will be otherwise employed on Jan. 1, 2010 thanks to term limits, brushed off rumors that he’s going to introduce a bill to extend term limits, according to the Daily News. The law now restricts citywide elected officials, borough presidents and Council members to two four-year terms. But lately there’s been talk, mostly fueled by some New Yorkers’ desire to see Mayor Bloomberg continue in office, about efforts to extend the limits by one more four-year term.

Koppell told the Daily News that he did request that the Council bill-drafting division come up with a bill extending term limits two years ago but that it never went anywhere. But it’s clear that Koppell is a supporter of adding on another term and he thinks voters would go for it if they knew it meant four more years of Bloomberg.

"He's quite popular, and I think people should have the chance to vote for him," Koppell said.

(Somehow, we have the feeling that Anthony Wiener, Christine Quinn and Bill Thompson would beg to differ.)

Extending term limits would upend what is already proving to be a lively race to replace Koppell (not to mention similar efforts in 34 other Council districts). There are now five candidates (including Koppell staffer Jamin Sewell) all from Riverdale, in the mix, and there may be more. They’ve already held fundraisers, launched Web sites, and hit the streets.

We saw a crew of Ari Hoffnung supporters outside the C-Town on Sedgwick Avenue last week. They were wearing orange t-shirts emblazoned with the question, “Got Parking?” and asking passersby to sign a petition calling on Mayor Bloomberg to reduce the number of alternate-side parking days.

All this campaign activity is a year out from next year’s election.

But it will be for naught if the Council succeeds in extending term limits.

Stay tuned.