The five Oswego County legislators who failed to fill out their oath of office cards on time will likely not have to run for their seats again this fall. A bill forgiving their mistake passed both chambers of the New York State Legislature and is awaiting the governor's signature or veto.
State law stipulates that oath of office cards must be completed in a timely manner or elected officials are forced to compete for their seat again in the following election. The legislation, if signed into law, would apply to any local officials elected in 2015 or 2016 who still hold that position.
A separate bill that would have exempted only the five Oswego County legislators drew criticism from Democratic members of the Oswego County Legislature. They argued that the five Republican legislators were using their Albany connections to fix the problem because the bill was authored by central and northern state Sen. Patty Ritchie and Assemblyman Will Barclay, both who are members of the GOP.
