With an appeal of a ruling on Suffolk County's term limits pending, a state judge has refused to grant a candidate's bid to knock incumbent Democratic District Attorney Thomas Spota off the ballot because he was purportedly term-limited.
Last September, Acting Supreme Court Justice Ralph Gazzillo (See Profile) held that Suffolk County could not enforce its 12-year term limits, which had been approved by voter referendum in 1993, for the positions of district attorney, sheriff or county clerk because only the state could impose such restrictions for those offices. The county sheriff, clerk and Spota, whose third term concludes this year, had sued the county in an effort to void the limits (NYLJ, Sept. 28, 2012).
