A local lawmaker suffered a defeat in a long-fought bid to set term limits for Erie County elected officials Thursday.
Erie County Legislator John Bargnesi, a Democrat, introduced a bill back in June 2024 that would limit the offices of county executive, legislators, county clerk, district attorney, comptroller and sheriff, to serve a maximum of three four-year terms.
But after nearly 18 months, three drafts and two public hearings, Bargnesi’s bill was buried when legislators voted against discussing the matter again by a vote of 8 to 3 in the Erie County Legislature. The move effectively sends the bill to the legislative graveyard.
"Unless something changes in the near future, I would say right now it’s dead in the water," Bargensi admitted after the vote.
Bargnesi, who represents the City and Town of Tonawanda, argues imposing term limits would bring new blood into county government.
"If they see an incumbent that is there and entrenched with money and name recognition, it deters anybody from running for office. If they see there is a sunset on someone’s career, they can then start participating and rally support to maybe participate in local government, and that’s the whole name of the game," he said.
And the waters of Erie County’s elected offices are fairly stagnant if the most recent election cycle is anything to go by. Excluding judgeships, of 13 county offices up for grabs this November, seven went unopposed.
Since Bargnesi’s bill proposes a change to the county charter, the end goal was to put the question of term limits to the public for a vote next November, but it was always going to be a big ask to get there. Not only did the lawmaker need a majority to pass the bill in the legislature, but it’s likely he would have needed enough backing to override a veto from Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz, who previously said he disagreed with term limits according to previous reporting by The Buffalo News.
The vote Thursday went as follows: John Bargnesi (D) Jeanne Vinal (D) and Michael Kooshoian (D) voted to move the item from committee for a vote, while Lawrence Dupre (D), Taisha St. Jean Tard (D), Christopher Green (R), Timothy Meyers (D), Frank Todaro (R), John Gilmour (D), Lindsay Lorigo (R) and John Mills (R) voted no.
