Audio Transcript: County legislator weighs in on term limit proposition
Drew Matyasik: Tomorrow, the voters will decide on whether terms should be extended to four years and limited to 12 for Onondaga County legislators. Democratic legislator Maurice Brown says that he thinks the proposal should’ve included more.
Maurice Brown: I think that the proposal is incomplete. It defeats the purpose to do it if it’s only gonna include some elected officials and not all of us.
Matyasik: Local voter and Syracuse College Republicans member, Andrew Finn, says that he doesn’t think term limits would be effective.
Andrew Finn: I don’t think there’s a need for term limits for any form of government. I believe that if the voters choose someone to represent them then that person should be allowed to represent them regardless of how long they’ve spent in office.
Matyasik: Legislators elected tomorrow will have to run again in 2026 due to a new state law on even year elections, but the question is whether they will be elected until 2028 or 2030. Live from the studio, Drew Matyasik, NCC News.
SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC NEWS) – Tomorrow, voters will head to the polls and face a proposition on the back of their ballot relating to term limits for Onondaga County legislators. The proposal would extend legislators’ terms to four years from two, and limit them to serving three terms.
Maurice Brown, the democratic legislator for the county’s 15th district, said that the proposal should’ve included more, including term limits for the county executive, district attorney and comptroller.
“I think that the proposal is incomplete,” Brown said. “It defeats the purpose to do it if it’s only gonna include some elected officials and not all of us.”
Brown continued, saying that allowing legislators to serve for an additional 12 years who have already reached the limit doesn’t do the proposition justice.
“I hate that folks who have done time are grandfathered in, given a fresh 12 years because we have people who have been serving over 12 years currently. So, they’re gonna get 24 years, and I think that defeats the purpose of doing it if we’re not gonna include ourselves.” Brown said.
Andrew Finn, a member of the Syracuse College Republicans, said that he thinks term limits are ineffective.
“I believe that if the voters choose someone to represent them then that person should be allowed to represent them regardless of how long they’ve spent in office,” Finn said.
Legislators who are elected tomorrow will have to run again in 2026 due to a new state law that pushes local elections to even-numbered years. If the proposal passes tomorrow, then they won’t have to run again until 2030.