It is the sentiment of many of Cayuga County's legislators, from Chris Palermo, Ann Petrus, Steve Cuddeback, George Fearon and others.

This county doesn't need a term-limit law. Voters are the term limits. If voters don't like their representative, they vote them out of office.

It's often only elected officials who believe that. But even elected officials aren't leaning on that defense in light of legislator's Steve Netti's contentious resignation last month.

Why?

Because the voters were not allowed to serve as “term limits” in November. The people of District 15 had no choice.

The Cayuga County Democratic Party failed the people of that Auburn district by not offering up a challenger. They knew Netti could only serve two years, a campaigning tool that fellow Democratic challenger Dan Schuster used effectively in his race against incumbent Sam DeRosa.

The county's third parties that did not endorse Netti also failed District 15 by not offering up a choice for voters.

And the Republicans failed the people of District 15 by delivering voters a poor choice: a legislator who could not serve his complete four-year term due to county term limits. But the Republicans didn't mind; if Netti is forced to step down mid-term, the GOP majority on the Legislature gets to hand-pick Netti's replacement with hopes of holding that seat for another 12 years. And a Republican legislator representing a Democratic city is no small feat.

The majority of people in District 15 tried to express their displeasure. Of the 848 people in District 15 who showed up at the polls in November, 481 chose not to vote for Netti. They wanted change, but by not providing them with an alternative, the political parties of this county choked off the voters' ability to be heard. It is quite possible that a challenger could have beaten the incumbent, had there been one.

But as it stood, Netti could have showed up at the polls and cast the only vote he received, and the Auburn Republican still would have been re-elected.

So to all the Cayuga County legislators who believe that there is no need for term limits, District 15 is an example of why term limits work. Because thanks to the local political parties, voters are often given no alternative.