Proposition 2: Vote no on extension of supervisor terms

Essential to the argument for extending the Riverhead Town supervisor term from two years to four is the notion that it’s not in the best interest of the public for a supervisor to be constantly running for office.

If elected to a four-year term, the supervisor has three years of focusing on the job at hand and just one year concentrated on politics, a better balance than the current 50-50 split.

It’s a logical explanation, but one that falls apart the more you think about how much more elected officials seem to accomplish when seeking the public’s vote.

When are politicians more visible than when they’re courting you? Don’t more projects get completed in the final year of a supervisor’s term than in the first?

A two-year term keeps control of the office in the voters’ hands. It also enables the public to bounce a majority of the Town Board from office every two years when unsatisfied with its performance.

While the three most recent supervisors were elected to multiple terms, it wasn’t that long ago when the people of Riverhead voted consecutive supervisors out of office after just one full term.

Why would they want to give up that right?

This newspaper does not support Proposition 2.