Here is the fourth item from my “Albany Insider” column that was cut for space from the Monday print editions:
With some of his colleagues having held their committee chairs for decades, Assemblyman Daniel O’Donnell said it would be good for the body as a whole for there to be more turnover.
While stopping short of calling for the type of eight-year term limits for committee chairs that the Senate has enacted, O’Donnell (D-Manhattan) said he believes members should voluntarily move around every several years.
“A churn in the place would be healthy for the people who are serving in those positions and it would be health for the body,” he said.
O’Donnell, who this year switched from chairing the Corrections Committee the past four years to the tourism and arts committee, dismissed the notion that the more years spent on a committee, the more expertise a person accumulates.
“People should be flexible about what they do,” he said. “I’m not trying to get rid of anyone, but it’s healthier having some movement.”
Some Assembly members have held their committee chairs for more than two decades, including Richard Gottfried, who took over the Health Committee in 1987, Joseph Lentol, who has headed the Codes Committee since 1992, and Herman “Denny” Farrell, who has led the Ways and Means Committee since 1994.
The committee chairs are selected by the chamber’s speaker and have often been based on seniority.
Assembly Majority Leader Joseph Morelle (D-Rochester) said a speaker should have the ability to decide who he wants for his leadership team.
“The way we structure it, it has worked well,” he said.
