Lawmakers OK term limits referendum
KINGSTON, N.Y. >> Voters may be called upon in November to decide whether some county officials should be limited in their time in office.
The Ulster County Legislature has approved a resolution to put a referendum on the November ballot asking voters to decide if the county executive, comptroller and legislators should be limited to serving 12 years in office. The measure still has to be signed by the county executive.
If passed by voters, the measure would take effect in 2019. The offices of sheriff, county clerk and district attorney would not be subject to term limits.
Legislator Joseph Maloney, D-Saugerties, who sponsored the measure has said term limits would prevent incumbents from amassing power and gaining a “builtin advantage” when running for office.
Legislator David Donaldson called the measure “undemocratic” and said while he understands, but might not support, a limit on officials like the county executive, who has the ability to “amass power,” he doesn’t understand the need to impose term limits on county legislators.
“It makes no sense to me,” said Donaldson, D-Kingston. “You won’t necessarily get a better product, and in the end you might get a more inexperienced product.
“I think most people, if you have a legislator that knows what they’re doing, people want to keep them coming back,” he said, noting that in the November 2017 election, voters elected eight new legislators, including four who unseated incumbents.
In April, the Legislature defeated a single proposal to have voters decide whether to both limit the years most elected county officials could serve and lengthen the terms of county legislators to four years from the current two year terms they serve.
A public hearing on the original proposal, most speakers supported the idea of term limits, saying that limiting the time an elected official serves would bring new people and new ideas to the county government.
Lawmakers delayed voting on the measure in September amid concerns that the conservative organization Reclaim New York was trying to politicize the issue.