Ryan: “I’ll Seriously Look At A Third Term”

Anything can happen on a live radio broadcast, especially on April First.

Binghamton mayor Matthew Ryan called WNBF's Binghamton Now program today a few minutes after a caller who identified himself as "Bill" said he'd overheard Ryan over the weekend talking about launching a bid for a third term.

The city's term limit law would preclude that but "Bill" said the mayor was discussing the possibility of challenging the law.

Ryan called a short time later. "Interestingly enough, I don't know who it was who overheard me but it's true."

The mayor said he doesn't believe the city term limit measure received enough votes: "I'm looking into that right now. I don't think it'll take a legal challenge."

Ryan said: "I think there's a lot of work to still be done. I think we've made a lot of progress... I think I'll seriously look at a third term."

The mayor said "we actually are putting out a press release today about this now that it's out there."

A few minutes later, Ryan was called and asked whether his talk about seeking another term was an April Fools' Day joke. He said: "No comment."

Then Ryan called Binghamton Now again and insisted: "This is not an April Fools' joke... So I just want your listeners to know it's not an April Fool's joke. No comment means no comment at this point. I said my press release will talk about when we're going to have a press conference... The story is the story... We're going forward."

There are 274 days left in Ryan's second, four-year term as mayor.