NYPost

KEEP RUDY, FOR THE HEROES

By ANDREA PEYSER

September 29, 2001 -- FERNANDO FERRER disgraces the city he pretends to love.

The mayoral candidate who likes to talk about poor and disenfranchised New Yorkers has proved he stands for no one but himself.

With ruthless smugness, he declares he's defending democracy by refusing to agree to allow Rudolph Giuliani to serve an extra three months as mayor.

Freddy should have checked with Greg Manning before opening his beak.

Manning spends his days in the hospital reading to his wife, who was critically injured at her job in the World Trade Center's north tower.

A senior vice president of a brokerage firm that operated out of the south tower, Manning was not in the building when the plane hit.

But his wife was. And while she was trapped in the wreckage, she told him, she had prayed to die. But then, he said, she willed herself to live - for him and their 10-month-old son.

This week, Manning called me. It was the first conversation he's had since Sept. 11 that wasn't directly related to the trade-center attacks. And yet, it had everything to do with it.

"Term limits were the flavor of the month in 1993" when voters first approved throwing politicians out of office after two terms, Manning said.

"Now, we're in a state of emergency."

Manning passionately believes that changing mayors at this critical moment "will lead to a deficit in our ability to recover."

"I'm a strong believer in democracy," he said, adding that keeping Rudy in office "has to be done legally, properly."

"It has to be done in a way that won't signal to terrorists that they can interrupt our democracy."

Manning has no patience with those who say it can't be done.

"The politicians who say it's ‘too late' are making bureaucratic excuses," he said. Excuses that "are worthy of our enemies."

How our enemies must laugh at us. At a time when leadership is so crucial, little men fight to hold onto their pathetic scraps of power.

When the United States entered World War II in 1941, New Yorkers were free to re-elect Fiorello La Guardia, who'd already served two terms.

It could not be anticipated in 1993 that terrorists would fly jumbo jets into the World Trade Center. In 1996, when voters passed term limits again, it could not be known that the Fire Department would lose in one day more than 300 members, including some of its most experienced men.

Mark Green and Michael Bloomberg know they don't have the experience to rebuild the FDNY, which may be part of the reason they agreed Rudy should stay a while longer.

Ferrer has set the stage for a bitter struggle, in which Rudy will probably seek to have term limits repealed. Frankly, I don't believe term limits capture the spirit of democracy; voters should be permitted to choose the candidate they need.

But laws are made to be repealed. And this is an appropriate time to take emergency action.

Manning speaks out for Rudy because it's the least he can do for the heroes of this city - like his wife.

"You've heard so much talk about ‘heroes,'" he said. "My wife is my hero. In addition to love, I have admiration for her that is just incredible.

"She is waging this incredible fight - for me and our son."

-- Anonymous, September 29, 2001