hy did the PBA support the ultimately successful effort by the mayor and a majority of the city council to extend term limits from two to three terms?

Opposition to term limits of any length has always been a component of the PBA’s governmental philosophy and political strategy. When it comes to promoting our members’ interests, we’ve always felt that, after expending time and resources cultivating a relationship with a politician over two terms or even more, it becomes problematic when the politician leaves office just when that public official has become well-versed in the fair concerns of the city’s police officers and just when that carefully cultivated relationship starts to yield value to the organization.

Our politico-governmental philosophy has also always put a premium on the checks-and-balances advantage of a strong city council. A legislative body that has gained strength and wisdom over multiple terms is better equipped to withstand the tremendous power of the mayor’s office — no matter who its occupant is.

So we endorsed the term-limits change because it was in our members’

best interests to do so and because our friends in city government asked us for support. One of them was Council Speaker Christine Quinn, who has personally supported this organization in our last two arbitrations, providing pro- PBA testimony in one and delivering other supportive council members to testify in the second.

Speaker Quinn has also helped to enact legislation (on bullet-resistant vests, for example) that has benefited our members and she has even helped us with state legislation in cases where the law requires home-rule messages before we can get a pro-PBA law passed in Albany.

In politics as in life, you don’t abandon friends when they need your support.

The city’s executive branch, another obvious beneficiary of the term-limits change, also asked for our support in this one.

And did the appeals from both the east and west wings of City Hall play a role in our decision to take a more public stance? The answer is yes. Does the mayor benefit from this legislation? Absolutely. Does this mean the PBA has decided whether or not to endorse the mayor? Every politician — all candidates for mayor and the council — will still have to come to the PBA to seek our endorsement.

Will our support eliminate future disagreement between the PBA and a potential third Bloomberg Administration? Of course not. There may be trouble ahead, particularly with tighter budgets looming. So the assertive tactics we’ve used in the past to get the best deal possible for our members — picketing City Hall, op-ed strategies, aggressive ad campaigns — are all still on the table.

Will we need these tactics? Only time will tell. But term limits are something we already know we don’t need.