The Onondaga County Legislature now has the option of taking legal action against the board of elections to get a term limits measure on the ballot. Meanwhile, Republicans proposed what they call a compromise measure that would impose term limits without voter approval.
The developments came Tuesday, and are the latest twist in what’s become a lengthy and divisive debate over how to resolve the mess over term limits. It began when the county executive accidentally signed a term limit law and then vetoed it. Majority Democrats said the approval is legally binding and should be on the November ballot. But the Republican elections commissioner declined. Legislature chair Nicole Watts said the measure approved Tuesday, largely along party lines, allows the legislature to retain legal counsel.
“We have to address the question of the law and democracy," she told reporters after the meeting. "I have not received a single viable legal pathway forward that doesn't include a judge in order to address that.”
“Every single member of this body has voted to support term limits this year," said Republican Cody Kelly. "And my intention is to find a solution that allows us all to move on.”
He said that solution is in the form of a local law from his caucus proposing the same three-four year terms for the offices of county executive and comptroller, but without a county-wide referendum.
Majority leader Nodesia Hernandez says that’s not what voters want.
“We keep hearing that they want to vote. We want them to vote," she said. "This new local law that's brought forward is not giving them the ability to vote. The only way to get to that opportunity is for the commissioner to take what we gave him legally and put it on the back of the ballot as a referendum.”
Minority leader Brian May said the legal fight needs to end.
“It's just not good for county government. We don't need it," he said. “Even the county executive's proposal last week sort of intimated, look, let's get this done. And so what we did was kind of in the spirit of that as well, let's just get it done.”
The county executive said last week he wants lawmakers to approve competing term limit proposals for next year’s ballot, but that idea fell flat with both parties. The legislature’s new GOP-sponsored measure could come up for a vote at next month’s session.
In a statement, a spokesperson for county executive Ryan McMahon said the vote to open the door to litigation adds more uncertainty and potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal bills. He said he offered a workable bi-partisan compromise that could have resolved the matter without further conflict or expense. The spokesperson said McMahon’s door remains open to anyone prepared to work toward a responsible solution without frivolous lawsuits.
