Oops! Onondaga County Executive Ryan McMahon signed the papers the county’s top lawyer put in front of him, but neither noticed that one of those papers approved the term limits law that McMahon had just said he would veto.
The packet also contained McMahon’s veto, but because the notice approving the law arrived at the County Legislature’s office first, Legislature Chair Nicole Watts said that that’s the one they’re going with. The county attorney said it’s just a simple error that should be ignored.
The embarrassing mistake came after a morning of political theater. McMahon, as required by law, held a public hearing on the measure approved by the Legislature to ask voters to decide whether to limit future county executives and comptrollers to three terms of four years. He had already vetoed a similar measure a month earlier, so it was no surprise that he said within minutes of the end of the public hearing, “I’m gonna veto this,” while acknowledging that a majority of county residents probably support term limits.
About an hour after saying that, his office emailed the clerk of the Legislature a scanned document that bore McMahon’s signature and said that he had approved the term limits law. Twenty minutes later, a second email contained his veto and the required veto message.
Watts huddled in her office with lawyers for the Legislature. When she emerged, she said the county charter was clear: “According to our charter, as soon as it's received by the Clerk of the Legislature, it is officially considered a law,” Watts said. The veto and veto message arrived after the Clerk had acknowledged receipt of the first message.
This is the language of the charter, at Section 210: “If the county executive approves it, he shall sign it and return it to such Clerk and it shall be deemed to be adopted. If he vetoes it, he shall return it to such clerk and must set forth his written objections thereto and the clerk shall present the same with such objections to the county legislature…”
To make matters worse, the county executive’s office delivered physical copies of both messages, both bearing McMahon’s signature.
County Attorney Robert Durr told reporters the error was harmless and should be ignored. Watts, however, intends to enforce the accidental approval. She will send it on to the county’s two election commissioners for inclusion on the November ballot. The Republican election commissioner could attempt to block it. Either outcome is likely to lead to a lawsuit.
