Norco ballot questions would limit terms for executive, council and controller
Should elected officials serving Northampton County be limited in how long they can serve in office?
Northampton County Council thinks voters should have the chance to answer that question.
That’s why council is placing three referendums on the Nov. 7 ballot and one on the spring 2024 ballot asking voters if they want to impose term limits on the county executive, district attorney, controller and council members.
The Nov. 7 referendums ask voters to amend the county Home Rule Charter to restrict the county executive and county controller to two consecutive four-year terms (eight years) while council members would be limited to three consecutive four-year terms (12 years).
Meanwhile, the spring 2024 ballot question would restrict the district attorney to four four-year terms (16 years).
In Pennsylvania, the seven counties with Home Rule Charters – Allegheny, Erie, Delaware, Lackawanna, Luzerne, Lehigh and Northampton – are permitted to enact term limits. Cities, townships and boroughs with Home Rule Charters can do so as well.
Only Northampton and Lackawanna counties have no term limits on elected county offices.
Lehigh restricts its county executive to two consecutive terms in office but other offices have no restrictions.
In Erie, the county executive and council members can serve no more than three four-year terms. Luzerne restricts council members, the controller and DA to three terms, though there are some exceptions with council related to actual time spent in office. It has an appointed county manager.
In Delaware County, no elected official may serve more than two full terms in the same office or a combined total of 10 years service in the same office, whichever is greater.
Allegheny County Council recently rejected placing a referendum on the ballot to limit all county offices to three four-year terms. Currently the county executive is restricted to such limits, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
The referendums
The Nov. 7 ballot questions on the executive, council and controller were approved by council on June 15.
They were subsequently vetoed by Executive Lamont McClure over wording issues on June 23 but overridden by council on July 6.
If approved, term limits for the controller and council would begin in 2024 while the executive’s would start in 2026.
The limits on the district attorney, if successful, would begin in 2028. That’s because the referendum would come next year after the Nov. 7 election where incumbent Democrat Stephen Baratta, a former county judge who resigned to run for the DA post, is the only candidate following the withdrawal of incumbent Democrat Terry Houck, who won a Republican write-in campaign.
The DA referendum was approved on July 20. The tally was 6-3 with President Kerry Myers, John Brown, John Cusick, Thomas Giovanni, John Goffredo and Lori Vargo Heffner voting yes with Vice President Ronald Heckman, Kevin Lott and Tara Zrinski casting no votes.
Initially, the question limited the DA to two consecutive terms, but Vargo Heffner offered two amendments, one raising it to three and then one to raise it to four.
The vote on the DA term limits mirrored earlier tallies, though Zrinksi abstained from voting on the controller-related votes. As the Democratic candidate for the controller post for the in November, Zrinski said she felt it was ethically wrong for her to vote even though she was advised it would not be a conflict of interest. Cusick, who did not abstain, is her Republican challenger.
Pros and cons
Chris Borick, director of the Muhlenberg College Institute of Public Opinion, said term limits are employed fairly regularly at the local level, especially in executive positions such as a mayor.
“They are not as commonly used in legislative institutions such as councils,” he said in an email exchange.
Borick, who is also a political science professor, said there are positives and negatives to curbing time in office.
“Term limits can force change and can create a period where elected officials can make choices without concern about public backlash at the polls,” he said.
However, he said, they can limit voter choices.
“Forcing a popular and effective elected official to leave office through term limits deprives the voters of a choice that they may otherwise make,” Borick said. “Ultimately, term limits imply that voters can't be trusted to make the right choice.”
Northampton council members highlighted both sides of the issue during discussion on the referendums.
Vargo Heffner, who co-sponsored the bills with Goffredo, said term limits would help in cases where an ineffective candidate was elected. “I think sometimes the wrong people end up in the spot,” she said.
Vargo Heffner also said she doesn’t think that people should make careers out of elected public service.
“This is not a partisan issue. It’s a philosophical position,” she said. “I don’t think we need to make government our career. I think people can grow and move on from those positions.”
According to meeting minutes, Goffredo agreed, saying people should have to step away so there can be fresh ideas and perspective.
Minutes show that Goffredo said voters want to avoid having elected officials who are, in his opinion, “too old to run it.”
When it came to the DA’s position, Myers weighed in, saying he didn’t think Vargo Heffner’s initial amendment to raise it to a three-year term was long enough. He referenced former DA John Morganelli, who was repeatedly reelected for more than 25 years until he left to run and win a seat as a county judge in 2019.
“This could be someone’s personal goal to be a district attorney,” he said.
That’s when Vargo Heffner offered an amendment to up the time limit for the DA to 16 years.
On the other side of the issue, Zrinski questioned the sense of urgency for the November referendums, saying municipal-year elections such as November’s bring fewer voters out.
She said that would mean fewer people would be voting to take a future voter’s rights away.
Zrinski noted that the meetings where the referendums were discussed did not draw the large number of people normally present when something urgent is on the agenda.
Lott said voters can vote someone out of office if they don’t like the job the person is doing.
Heckman said he is more concerned about limiting the amount of money spent on campaigns, saying an incumbent can build up an almost insurmountable war chest.
While he can see term limits at the state and national level, he doesn’t support them at the local level.
“I can understand the trust and faith in government is really not out there anymore,” Heckman said. “I really can’t support it.”