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Onondaga County Legislators voted 9-8 on Tuesday to table a proposed law that could extend legislators’ terms from two years to four and put term limits on their seats as well as on the county executive and comptroller.

The resolution, which was proposed by Legislator Ken Bush, would place a referendum on the ballot this November for voters to decide whether county legislators, the county executive and the comptroller would be limited to three terms.

Bush and fellow Republican Cody Kelly joined Democrats in voting against tabling the measure, but a nine-vote majority of all the remaining Republicans took the resolution off the agenda after lengthy debate in the session.

Bush did not discuss the measure with fellow legislators or pass it through a committee before bringing it to a vote, which is not the normal procedure for a local law, Majority Leader Brian May said. That choice left too many unanswered questions for him and fellow Republicans to vote on it Tuesday, he said.

“This is not how you make a very significant decision,” May said.

Bush also chose not to speak extensively in favor of his proposal, instead opting to let its words do the convincing, he said. May wasn’t happy with the process Bush chose to pursue.

“In my world we call that half-assed,” May said. “If any individual here has something that’s important to him, then that individual should be ready, willing and prepared to step up, represent the issue they’re trying to advance and see to it that it passes.”

Bush said he chose not to loop in either the Democratic or Republican caucus to ensure that there was no appearance of partisan intent with the law. That’s one reason he wanted to pass it now, he said.

“Timing is important. I don’t want this to be a political football for the election,” Bush said.

If the resolution is brought up again next month and passed, it would not affect legislators immediately as none are up for election in 2022. For Bush, it’s all about giving voters the choice.

“If you vote no on this, you’re saying to your constituents that they’re not going to have a say,” Bush said. “People are already so damn cynical of government already, why wouldn’t you give the voter an opportunity to have some say on how their government is structured?”

Bush views himself outside of the party caucus system, opting to represent his constituents first over the Republican leadership, he said. Bush is no stranger to going against party leadership: he was one of three Republicans who joined Democrats in voting to oust former legislature Chairman Dave Knapp in January.

The process surrounding this vote, coming into session with little discussion at all, points to some larger issues in the legislature, Legislator Julie Abbott, a Republican, said. Abbott was surprised to read about the resolution for the first time in syracuse.com last week and never received a phone call from Bush directly, she said.

“I am here because I actually care about the people I serve. This is nothing but pure politics, and it’s a waste of our good time,” Abbott said. “There clearly are rifts within the (Republican) caucus right now.”

May echoed Abbott’s sentiment that the legislature often disagrees.

“We don’t get along much. We don’t collaborate or cooperate in many instances, and we don’t bother educating our colleagues on what issues are important to us,” May said.

Some legislators disagreed with the resolution on principle, either believing that term limits are ineffective or that legislator terms should be kept at two years. But they wanted voters to decide anyway.

“I’m probably the longest-serving person sitting here now, and I’m not crazy about term limits particularly, but I think we should let the public have the decision on this,” said Legislator Linda Ervin, who was first elected to the legislature in 2009. “Last time I petitioned, one of my constituents said to me, ‘You’re back again? Didn’t you just run for office?’”

Knapp responded that short terms serve a purpose and must be preserved.

“A long time ago, some great folks got together and wrote the Constitution and the New York State Constitution, and they said that elected representatives have two-year terms,” he said. “They knew that a two-year term would keep you accountable to the voter. Yeah, it’s not fun. It’s brutal to run for reelection every two years, but they saw that it was the most effective way to keep representatives representing.”

The resolution is an issue that Bush plans to continue pushing for, even though he believes it will likely never pass in this legislature, he said. The resolution is tabled indefinitely, however, it is unlikely that it will get proper discussion or a vote in a future meeting, Minority Leader Chris Ryan said.

“These people aren’t changing their minds. There’s nothing I could have done,” Bush said. “The only thing that will change their minds is when enough people in the public decide to tell their legislators that they want term limits.”

Published on April 5, 2022 at 10:29 pm

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