Term Limits = the First Tuesday in November

I don’t like term limits. Especially not for county electeds, because our county districts aren’t gerrymandered in such a way as to guarantee incumbency. In the grand scheme of things, the Erie County Legislature and other County stuff is small potatoes, compared with Albany or DC.

So, I’m not in favor of the term limits proposed by the breakway Dem faction of Locklear, Konst, and Iannello. I don’t see expanding the Leg terms from 2 years to 4 as doing anything to stem “special interest” influence or money. In fact, one could argue that a legislator has a better chance to cement that relationship over 4 years rather than 2. The budget crisis came about seemingly overnight, and Giambra mucked it up in only 4 years. If a legislator is going to muck things up, 12 years is more than enough time, so it sort of defeats the purpose.

If you really want to halt another Chuck Swanick (the term limits poster boy), you have to do away with electoral fusion, which permits parties-in-name-only like the Conservatives, the IP, and the WFP, which rarely, if ever, field their own candidates, to wield disproportionately huge power over New York races.