The Independent View: NYC Voters Forgot About the Grandfather Clause and Third Terms

There are 21 freshman members of the New York City Council who are limited by law to serve two terms, 18 of their veteran colleagues can run for a third term in 2017.

New York City voters approved a referendum in November 2010 that for the third time since 1993 unmistakably affirmed that the will of the people is to limit the city’s elected officials to two terms?

The Charter Revision Commission that brought the term limits referendum to the ballot allowed one last term to be slipped into the fine print. What very few of the 74 percent of voters who cast their ballots to restore term limits realized is that they were simultaneously signing off on a grandfather clause allowing any officeholder elected on or before Nov. 2, 2010 to run for a third term.

This poison pill allowed nine members of the City Council to begin their third term:

Maria del Carmin Arroyo - 17th District, Bronx
Inez E. Dickins - 9th District, Manhattan
Daniel R. Gardonick - 4th District, Manhattan
Vincent J. Gentile - 43rd District, Brooklyn
Darlene Mealy - 41th District, Brooklyn
Rosie Mendez - 2nd District, Manhattan
Annabel Palma - 18th District, Bronx
James Vacca - 13th District, Bronx
Melissa Mark-Viverito - 8th District, Bronx/Manhattan, Council Speaker

Those who are eligible but have not yet had to seek it:

Elizabeth Crowley - 30th District, Queens
Mathieu Eugene - 40th District, Brooklyn
Julissa Ferreras - 21st District, Queens
Vincent Ignizio - 51st District, Staten Island
David G. Greenfield - 44th District, Brooklyn
Eric Ulrich - 32nd District, Queens

But it was also an appalling welcome mat for the members of the club newly elected the day the people thought they were finally putting an end to the Council’s shenanigans:

Fernando Cabrera - 14th District, Bronx
Margaret Chin - 1st District, Manhattan
Jimmy Van Bramer - 26st District, Queens
Daniel Dromm - 25th District, Queens
Peter Koo - 20th District, Queens
Karen Koslowitz - 29th District, Queens
Brad Lander - 39th District, Brooklyn
Stephen Levin - 33rd District, Brooklyn
Ydanis Rodríguez - 10th District, Manhattan
Deborah Rose - 49th District, Staten Island
Mark Weprin - 28th District, Queens
Jumaane D. Williams - 45th District, Brooklyn

Shortly after the 2010 vote a good government group, New York Civic set about forming a nonpartisan coalition to push for a public referendum to repeal the grandfather clause. That effort failed because they were not able to raise the money necessary to collect enough signatures to force a referendum onto the ballot.

That trust has never been restored, but the fight to do so need not come to an end.

The Council needs 26 votes to repeal the grandfather clause legislatively.

Dear freshman, since the third term was all about shameless self-interest, we would be remiss in pointing out that if you were to deny your 18 colleagues a third term, as your constituents clearly would want you to do, you would also enjoy the happy consequence of significantly moving up the pecking order in 2017.