Back to Two Terms But Still Need to Fix Incumbent Loophole

The term limits question on the ballot passed with flying colors this past Tuesday by a 74-26 margin. So city elected officials are again limited to two terms and are forbidden from changing the law for themselves. But, we are still stuck with a provision that exempts incumbents who are not in their third term from this law and allows them to serve three terms. As a member of the 2010 Charter Commission, I strongly opposed this loophole for incumbents but was unable to garner the needed 8 votes. Celeste Katz at the Daily News has an excellent article today on how two city councilmen will be treated differently because of this provision, and how one of them will be able to stay in office until 2025! The incumbent loophole exempts 60 percent of the city council, two borough presidents, the comptroller and the public advocate. Stay tuned because we really need to fix this loophole and finish the job we started.