While Suffolk residents may have thought they put the term limit issue to bed over two
decades ago in a similar ballot proposal, they did not. The exact language of “consecutive
years” and a curious lawsuit by a former legislator opened up a loophole that November’s
ballot proposition, passed unanimously by the Suffolk County Legislature, seeks to close.
Most voters unversed in legal jargon, and probably many legislators themselves all those
years ago, assumed that this translated to 6 2-year terms for a total of twelve years for legislators. And accordingly, it was accepted by politicians of all stripes as de jure.
It wasn’t until former Legislator Kate Browning of the Working Families Party decided to hop back in the ring and have another go as a legislator, even though tradition held she was term-limited. In the resulting lawsuit, the court sided with Browning and permitted her to run in a special election for her former seat, which was recently vacated.
She did not win the special election, but her interpretation of the law and the proceeding legal opinion opened up this loophole that offers many potential “blasts from the past” to run for their former offices.
The legislation, sponsored by Legislators Bontempi (R-Huntington) and Jim Mazzarella (R-Moriches) and signed by Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone (D-Babylon), still needs to be approved by voters – a hurdle it is expected to pass handily.
Term limits are strongly favored by voters of both parties, as represented in the unanimous passage of the legislation.
Bellone holds that the bill will prevent corruption once passed by the voters.
Kevin McCaffery (R-Lindenhurst) celebrated the signing of the legislation as “one step closer to
uniform term limits.”
