Term Limits Day: Deep Thoughts about the Local Elections

By Mark David Blum, Esq.

As a libertarian in the same vein as Thomas Jefferson, Milton Friedman, and Albert Einstein, I conclude that the fundamental change we as a nation need to make to our election system is its’ name. Simply put, the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November is known presently as “Election Day”. In a better world, the day would be instead named, ‘Term Limits Day’. That simple change in terminology would better focus the mind of the voter on the issue before them.

Presently there is an argument constantly made by candidates that they are the most qualified because they have been in office and done a good job. That argument is dangerous and is the weakest and most pathetic claim made by any candidate. Nobody is qualified for an elected office until they serve in it. Whether they have the skills, expertise, and character to pick up the mantel and lead is a different question. I remain appalled, however, when a candidate argues that we should re-elect them for their ‘experience you can trust’.

Unfortunately, the claim of “experience” is the easiest claim for voters to swallow. Those who do not do their homework and check out who is running and their qualities seem appeased by a pronouncement of ‘experience’ on the job. These voters tend to look no further and for this reason, we suffer the constant re-election of incumbents. Such a practice is the penultimate insult to our Founders. It offends common sense to surrender to this fallacious argument.

The flipside of the argument is the concept of term limits and campaign finance controls. Neither is valid and both violate basic tenets of being able to vote for the candidate of our choice or the person we feel most deserving of the office. Free speech must rule the day for if there is no right to speech or expression, then no other right will exist.

At the time of the creation of the United States, there was never assumed to be a class of persons who would be lifelong officeholders. In fact, history is to the contrary where our Founders assumed that we would all share the mantel of leadership. They pictured a nation led by its People with officeholders doing the People’s business and then moving on. Over time, that perspective has changed and now the United States has not only a class of persons self declared as lifelong officeholders, but our attitudes and perspectives have been tampered with such that we no longer see our Government as being the ultimate threat to freedom. For a nation built on such concept only to abandon that basic founding principle within 200 years, I say “for shame”.

Onondaga County District Attorney Bill Fitzpatrick, candidate for Onondaga County Executive Bill Magnarelli, Town of Manlius Supervisor Hank Chapman are but some examples of why we need a fundamental change in how we view government. Two of those three are up for the umpteenth re-election and one is seeking to change elected office from the State to Local. All three should be told “NO”. There is no entitlement to office, to staying in office, and the longer someone remains in office, the less chance that society as a whole can move forward. Today’s great ideas are yesterday’s news in sixteen years.

We must change officeholders regularly for the very same reason we change diapers on a baby. Mohammed Ali said that a man who is the same at fifty as he was at thirty has wasted twenty years of his life. With these ideas in mind, the MarkBlum Report makes the following observations on the upcoming Onondaga County elections.

First, for the office of Onondaga County Executive, we begrudgingly opine that Joanie Mahoney is the best man for the job. In addition to being a relatively new face on the scene, Ms. Mahoney seems to have lit a fire in the community. She excites people. People seem to like her. Though her ideas are generic and at times troubling, overall there is no reason to not endorse her. Ms. Mahoney is young and vibrant and has the energy. Also, we have it upon reliable information and belief that Ms. Mahoney is opposed to this Nation’s War on its own people; aka the War on Drugs. That thinking shows an enlightened mind and gives hope that serious change in how we deal with each other may be forthcoming. To the contrary, her opponent is a lifelong politician changing jobs because his party needed a candidate with slightly more personality than Ed ‘the boring as a rock” Ryan.

Next, for the Office of Onondaga County District Attorney, we wholeheartedly applaud the candidacy of Tina Bennett, Esq. Going where no local lawyer has gone before, Ms. Bennett has shown no fear of the most intimidating politician in the State. Clearly she has all the legal qualifications for the job. Her opponent, the incumbent of 16 years has done little of late to give us reason to support him. Arrogance and disparate treatment of lawyers and defendants is a problem with that office. Any of the programs implemented were done so in the early days. Of late, nothing new has come out of that Office. In fact, the incumbent has built himself higher and stronger walls to further isolate him from the population he is required to serve. Ms. Bennett, while no lifelong prosecutor, still has the trial skills and knowledge of the law to get the job done. Being sensitive to issues and the recognized need for change cry out for her election. Her ideas are new and though she lacks access to data, clearly with her will come a new administration and new prosecutors which in turn will have a dramatic change in the Court system and in how business is done. Whether her changes will be for the better is something that only time will reveal. But the status quo where prosecutors are not prepared for cases, where favoritism is shown, and where judges are being prosecuted and sued shows that the incumbent is no longer the best person for the job.

For the Office of Onondaga County Comptroller, the choices are difficult. One candidate is a CPA with no political experience. The other is an attorney with political experience. The Republican candidate makes the point that a CPA is required for the position of County Comptroller as if being a CPA makes you better at math and reading. To the contrary, the Democratic nominee, Richard Brickwedde gets our support because in addition to his skills, Brickwedde has the political skillset to keep the position of Comptroller independent of domination by other government agencies or personalities. Brickwedde is promising us openness and public access to data that heretofore has been withheld from scrutiny. We believe Brickwedde has the skills, attitude, and character to both oversee our County budget and to keep politicians honest in their spending.

Hank Chapman, the Town of Manlius Supervisor, has got to go. He too suffers from the disease that afflicts long term incumbents: Arrogance of position. With constant re-election, this incumbent like most, sees himself as being above reproach. His attitude has changed from that of servant of the people to self proclaimed parent. Chapman has used his office to interfere with personal relationships and to enact rules and regulations that choke off business, mirror the private sector, and do little to advance the cause of the Town of Manlius. Unfortunately, his opponent, Mark Tetley, while a smart and honorable man, we feel lacks the personality for the political arena. We don’t see Tetley as being able to lead a change in Town politics. Clearly, Tetley’s election would satisfy the ‘anybody but Hank’ crowd. The rest of us, however, are now relegated to bringing our #2 pencils and voting for anybody but them. We cannot make an endorsement of any candidate for this office.

There are two great candidates for Family Court Judge; each coming to the job from a different perspective but both being superbly qualified. Michelle Pirro Bailey has been working in the Court system for most of her professional career. Marc Waldauer has served as Law Guardian and other roles specifically in the Family Court system. From our perspective, it is too bad there are not two judgeships open as both are over-the-top qualified for the jobs they seek. This decision will probably be the most difficult of the election because the voter really does have to make a decision on a basis other than the candidate themselves. Hopefully, whatever may be the criteria, “party affiliation” is not one of them. Judges should never be elected because of their political philosophies or affiliations. Maybe we can have a co-judgeship (a la Scrubs) with both sharing the office.

In the end, it matters not for whom you vote. More important than even for whom is that you indeed get off your fat lazy ass and vote. You are willing to send American soldiers thousands of miles to die in the sand for others to have the right to vote. It would be a sin and disgrace to their honor if you are too lazy to walk across the street and cast your vote.

Back to the MarkBlum Report

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