Frederick A. O. Schwarz Jr. is the city's former corporation counsel and oversaw a major revision of New York's city charter in the 1980s. He told The New York Times in an interview published Monday he believes the charter allows the City Council to grant Bloomberg permission to break a voter-approved two-term mayoral term limit without a referendum.

But, he said, that the spirit of the measure could only be maintained if Bloomberg didn't use his personal wealth or powers of incumbency as advantages.

"When he ran the first time, he had a terrifically uphill battle with people not knowing who he was," Schwarz told the newspaper. "After you've been in office for two terms and you're asking the council to change the rules, and people view it as in your favor, (limiting spending) would be the fair thing to do."

Schwarz suggested Bloomberg agree to participate in New York City's public campaign financing program, which would limit campaign spending to $12.3 million.

Bloomberg spokesman Stu Loeser said the mayor would not comment on Schwarz's proposal.