August 19, 2008

WROBLEWSKI ADVOCATES COMMON SENSE APPROACH TO LEGISLATURE REFORM

Our community, and every other community in our nation, will participate in the United States Census in 2010. Following the census, legislative districts at the federal, state and county levels of government will be redrawn - in accordance with constitutional law - to reflect population shifts. Reapportionment is an exercise we undertake, as a democracy, once a decade. By doing so, we strive to ensure that representation is equitable.

Currently, there are about a half dozen measures to reform the Erie County Legislature pending in the Legislature's Government Affairs Committee. A number of these proposals address the size of the Legislature or legislative terms of office, as well as proposed term limits. Every one of these measures deserves a full airing by the County Legislature and the voters.

To achieve that goal, I support the comprehensive, non-partisan approach of Chair Lynn Marinelli. Chair Marinelli is establishing a nine-member 21st Century Commission composed of citizens, not elected officials, to examine all issues involving the size and scope of the County Legislature. Every reform measure will be on the table and reviewed well in advance of the constitutionally mandated redistricting that will take place in 2011.

Yet, some county legislators have urged a piecemeal approach. I disagree with their notion that reform should be implemented bit by bit. Such an unsystematic approach would call for the County Legislature and voters to review, and approve or reject on an individual basis, a disjointed jumble of measures that have widely varying implementation dates. This is a formula for voter confusion, government inefficiency and procedural delay. Further, this lengthy process of drawing up new legislative districts would have to be repeated all over again the following year. By law, new districts must be redrawn following the publication of decennial census data. Any proposal calling for the Erie County Legislature to undergo two distinct restructurings, two years in a row, lacks common sense and is an inexcusable waste of taxpayer money.

To cite a stark comparison, we occasionally have been witness to a poorly planned infrastructure project where a highway, in dire need of repair, gets a beautiful new surface that, a few months later, is torn up because the adjacent utilities are also in need of remedial work. We can easily recognize the time, effort, resources and tax dollars that are wasted without proper planning and coordination with related public services, or without consideration for the residential and business community that relies on and pays for these services.

This analogy holds true regarding the Erie County Legislature. Reforms to the County's legislative infrastructure merit a systematic, "no holds barred" approach like the one to be undertaken by the citizens who will soon take their seats on the 21st Century Commission. I look forward to their recommendations.

Back to District 9 Homepage