In New York, we welcome Liz Whitmer Gereghty as our new New York state chair. Liz will be spearheading the efforts to pass legislation setting term limits on New York’s three statewide officers, governor, Attorney General, and comptroller. Hi, I am Holly Robichaud, and this is Breaking News on Term Limits.
We are so pleased that Liz Whitmer Gereghty has joined us. She grew up in Michigan and attended Michigan State University, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in international affairs. While in college, she interned for First Lady Hillary Clinton, and Michigan Senator Carl Levin. Long active in her community, she served on the Board of Community Center in Northern Westchester from 2016 to 2022, and was elected to the KLSD School Board in 2019, and re-elected in 2022 and chaired the facilities and finance committee where one of her key accomplishments was passing the first in decades, bond for the schools. She was most recently a Democratic congressional candidate in New York’s 17th Congressional District. She’s an incredible asset to make… Help us pass Term Limits in New York, and we thank her for supporting us in joining our team.
Hey, today I am so pleased that Liz Whitmer Gereghty has joined us. She is our new New York State Chair for Term Limits and we’re just so excited about having her on board. Thank you for joining me this morning.
Thank you for having me, Holly. It’s great to be here.
So why did you get involved with Term Limits?
Well, it’s interesting. I’ve been kind of on a journey for this. For a long time, I didn’t feel like term limits was something that we needed to do, but once you really kind of get into it and you see some of the damage that can be done by people who stay in office for year after year, I started to really think about it. And for me, kind of the Democratic case for term limits is we need more people involved in governing, because we all feel so disconnected right now, and feel like we don’t have a voice with our government. And I think the term limits actually would enable us to get some real good government reforms done.
All right. I couldn’t agree with you more. So what’s happening in New York?
Well, this year, we’re gonna be really trying to get term limits on the four statewide office holders. This is something that Governor Kathy Hochul had brought up in her State of the Union or state of the state speech in ’22. And if you really kind of look at the history, it makes a whole lot of sense, because every single person who is currently in one of those statewide offices, governor, lieutenant governor, Attorney General and controller are people who are there because their predecessor either stepped down in disgrace, or decided not to run because they had some serious problems.
All right. So what is the timeframe for that effort in New York?
So here’s how it works in New York. You have to get the bill passed through the assembly in the Senate one year, and then a general election needs to happen and the new legislature then needs to be seated. They pass it again, and then it goes to the ballot in New York.
All right. So we get ways to go, but kind of the session I believe ends in June, so we’ve got some pushing there to do in New York. Am I correct on that?
That is correct. So if we get it passed this time, there’s a general election in November, so it can pass again in ’25, and then it goes on and then theoretically, it can be on the ballot in November of 2025.
All right. Now how do New Yorkers feel about term limits?
Well, according to some polling by Unite New York, which is a good government group trying to get some important reforms done, 80% of New Yorkers favor term limits.
Wow, that’s great. That’s great. When you talk to people, how do they feel about term limits? You joining us as the Term Limits chair, what’s been the feedback so far?
Largely, people are in favor of it. We’ve watched this most recent Congress get absolutely nothing done. They are historically unproductive and continuing to elect the same people to do those jobs again and again, it doesn’t seem to make any sense.
All right. Well, I wanna thank you for joining us and thank you for being our new New York State chair.
Thank you.
We’re so excited to have you on board and I know with you leading the effort in New York, we’re gonna get this term limits on those constitutional officers passed in New York. So thank you for doing this.
Thank you. I’m excited to do it.
All right.
All right.
State legislative candidates across the nation, see how Americans want congressional term limits. Since we last spoke, we saw an additional 38 2024 legislative candidates sign our pledge. Congressional candidates are also getting the message. Over the past two weeks, we saw an additional eight Congressional candidates sign our pledge. We’re glad to have them on board. Hey, February 27th was National Term Limits Day, and it was one of our best ever. It was celebrated nationwide to bring awareness of the need for congressional term limits. Support for our reform continues to surge nationally with over 87% of Americans of all political stripes favoring congressional term limits. One of our biggest demonstration, it was in Dunedin, Florida. We had a ton of people out there showing their support and bringing awareness to people unfamiliar with the issue. And now it’s time for the Corrupt Politician of the week. And this week it’s Delaware Senator Tom Carper.
First elected to the Senate in 2000, Senator Carper was the governor of Delaware from 1993 to 2001. He also served in the United States House of Representatives from 1983 to 1993, and as State Treasurer of Delaware from 1977 to 1983. See the history there? As you can imagine, he is no fan of Term Limits, and he’s announced that he is finally retiring. Well, maybe it’s a good thing. The New York Times reported that his wife has been an active trader in energy stocks, while Carper sits on the Environment and Public Works Committee. She was also active in selling bonds in logistics and medical supplies while he was on the healthcare subcommittee of the Committee on Finance. When he was asked about the 39 violations, his office said, as you might suspect, no comment.
Now it’s time for an update on one of the poster childs for why we need term limits. Senator Bob gold bar Menendez. Gold bar Bob is now trying to get the search warrants that led to the arrest thrown out, claiming that the Justice Department mischaracterized his phone calls where he allegedly tried to coordinate his activities with the Egyptian officials. Congressional term limits can become a reality. We can get this done. We made this the biggest National Term Limits Day ever, and that’s because of your help. We need your involvement. So please go to termlimits.org and get involved today, and be sure to share this program with your friends and family. This is Holly Robichaud for US Term Limits Breaking News. I’ll see you soon.