Onondaga County Executive Ryan McMahon surprised even members of his own party Tuesday with a proposal to end a fight over term limits, a proposal that might not be legal.
It all stems from McMahon's mistake in not reading what he was signing a few weeks ago. He had promised to veto a proposal from the Democrats who run the Onondaga County Legislature to impose a limit of three terms of four years on the County Executive and County Comptroller, consistent with the term limits they had agreed to for themselves a year earlier, when Republicans still ran the legislature.
McMahon signed the veto but also signed another document, which approved the measure for inclusion on the November ballot. His mistaken approval arrived first at the legislature, where officials said the county charter states that if a measure arrives and is accepted, it's official. Because the accidental approval arrived 20 minutes before the veto, the Democratic majority says that's the version that's official.
However, the Republican Commissioner of Elections refused to accept the measure for inclusion on the ballot, setting up a likely legal confrontation.
Tuesday, the legislature's Ways and Means committee planned to meet behind closed doors to discuss the legal options available. An hour before that meeting, McMahon shocked lawmakers by sending out a press release announcing an idea he said was "a path forward:" Put two term limits proposals on the ballot. One would be the Democrats' plan for three terms and the other would be a Republican-backed plan for a four-term limit. If voters approved both proposals, McMahon said the one with the most votes should be the one adopted.
The press release was the first time that even members of his own party in the legislature had known the proposal was coming.
"It was like kerosene on an open flame," said Mo Brown, a Democrat and chair of the Ways and Means committee. "We were already deliberating hot topics, and then this just kind of added to that."
Brown and Republican Minority Leader Brian May said the private discussion of legal options still took place and was, in contrast to the accusations of bad faith that had been made publicly, cordial and professional. No decision was made about whether to sue.
"We agreed that we weren't going to solve the world's problems in an executive session of the legislature," May said. "So we decided to take it back to our respective camps, try to narrow things down to consensus from each side's point of view."
As for McMahon's proposal, both of Onondaga County's elections commissioners had their doubts it would be legal. Democratic Commissioner Dustin Czarny called the idea dubious and said calls to state elections officials could not find a time when competing ideas were on the same ballot.
"This is really not well researched, well thought out," said Czarny. "I do not buy Mr. McMahon's theory that if the dueling propositions are allowed on the ballot that whoever gets the most votes is what is enacted into law. Nothing in election law seems to indicate that."
"I'm going to say that we're in uncharted territory," said Kevin Ryan, the Republican Elections Commissioner. "And if the county executive is going to come up with a proposal that the county legislature is agreeable to, then I want to try to find a way to get everybody to yes."
WRVO's request for information to the New York State Board of Elections had not been returned as of the time of publication of this story.
The full legislature meets next week and a decision on whether to sue could come then, against an early-August deadline for items to be included on the ballot.
