Each Thursday, we put one of our local newsmakers On The Spot.

This week: AssemblymanBrian Kolb

This week's question: There is a proposal in Albany to limit the terms of legislative leaders and committee chairs. Do you support term limits for leadership positions in the state Legislature?

I strongly support the concept of imposing term limits on positions of leadership and committee chairmanships.

I believe that requiring term limits maintains accountability and improves the legislative process. Imposing rules reforms in each legislative house to limit assignments to a set number of consecutive terms would disperse authority and legislative power, paving the way for good government policy and making legislators more accountable to the people they represent.

The greatest hurdle to this reform comes from legislators with the most power, who by their very power become necessary for any action to be taken in government.

These chosen few become long-serving entrenched experts, handing out political power in exchange for loyalty #- an example of this is Assemblyman Sheldon Silver. As Speaker of the state Assembly for the past 12 years, Silver assigns committee chairmanships to his most loyal allies, some who have occupied those jobs for just as long.

Well-established leaders and committee chairs grow into a position of power and influence to give priority to the needs of their constituencies and implement policies that directly benefit them before others.

By limiting the term of committee and leadership positions, we break that trend, allowing others to serve in those positions with a fresher perspective, and promote a more fair and balanced government.

I strongly support changing the rules so that committee assignments and chairmanships would be rotated on a regular basis.

The very essence of good government consists in considering leadership positions and committee chairmanships as public trusts, bestowed for the good of all our constituents, not for the benefit of an individual community or political gain.

Let's limit leadership and committee chair assignments in a way that allows us to think, speak and act on the needs of our constituents in a system that's conducive to democracy and liberty.