Politics on the Hudson

The state Senate will take up a vote on bills to limit statewide officeholders (gov, lt. gov, AG, comptroller) to 8 years in office and to restrict legislators to 8 years as Senate or Assembly leader and 6 as a committee chairman.

The prime sponsor is a freshman, Sen. Joe Griffo, R-Rome, but the measures have the blessing of Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno, who has served in his post for 13 years.

When the bills were introduced in April, the 78-year-old Bruno acknowledged such a change wouldn’t impact him: “Term limits doesn’t mean much to me at this stage of my life. So it’s not hard to say `sure.’‘’

Bruno’s counterpart, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, D-Manhattan, has expressed no interest in either bill.