Earlier this month, the Committee for Better Government delivered a petition signed by more than 12 thousand county residents to limit the County Executive to two terms. Their goal: to create a referendum to the current county charter by putting the question on the ballot in November.
This week the County Council reviewed the proposal at their Tuesday meeting. Several councilmembers weighed in, opposing it. The Committee quickly issued a video in response.
Reardon Sullivan, the Republican candidate for County Executive in 2022, issued a statement to MCM. He pointed to a possible violation of the County Charter section 509 which states, “…Commission reports shall be submitted not later than May 1 of every even-numbered year.” Any recommendation posted on June 13 would be in violation of the County Charter according to Sullivan.
“We have seen this movie before,” Sullivan said. “The tactic of proposing competing legislation to confuse voters and kill the current term limits petition is the exact tactic that the Council used against the 9 districts (9D) ballot amendment. When they find out that the ballot petition drive will get to the 10,000-signature threshold, they unilaterally and without public input craft a competing and confusing measure to put on the ballot. They then work with the County attorney to make sure that their measure is listed ahead of the one based on the signatures gathered by the people.”
“Your viewers should know that when we checked the petition signatures against the available Board of Election voter rolls we noted that the majority of the petition signers were Democrats and Independents who understand the importance of term limits. This negates the argument that the ballot petition is ‘… a Republican plot.’”
Related:
Board of Elections to Review County Executive Term Limit Petition Signatures
Committee Delivers 12,000 Signatures to Place County Executive Term Limits on Ballot
