More than a year ago a majority of the Fullerton City Council agreed to put the idea of a three term limit to a plebescite. Councilmembers Sharon Quirk, Pam Keller and Shawn Nelson were for it; Dick Jones and Don Bankhead were against it.
Dick and I aren't going anywhere...
At the time we ran this post, which we updated in last October. Well, Friends, with the impending June primary election the time has come to remind Quirk, Keller, and Nelson of their promise. It’s not that we don’t trust them, but folks just get so gosh darn busy and their calendars fill up.
But seriously: now that a year has passed and the cold reality of actually having to do something approaches, will there be political remorse?
We’ll soon find out.
#1 by Rain on January 29, 2010
Although I can count the number of elected officials who I admire in single digit numbers, I am oppossed to new term limits laws.
We do (still) in fact get to vote people in and out of office. The concept behind these new laws imposing term limits is that free people cannot be trusted with their freedoms.
And, as we’ve seen in the case of “higher” offices in our State, the “term limited” officerholders can readily (and almost necessarily) keep rolling over their campaign funds and insider contacts into campaign bids for a succession of higher (and “lower”) public elective offices (which in that context merely become government jobs).
This is a big broad issue but I support the more idealistic method of freely electing and removing public officials.
#2 by Council Watcher on January 29, 2010
Rain, there are good arguments to be made on both sides of the issue.
It’s important to remember that city councilmembers and state legislators operate in completely different political and practical environments. I don’t know that much about the latter but the former I have watched quite a bit.
As a rule, the longer they are in office the more servile they become to the bureaucracy.
I believe a 12 year limit is ample time for a citizen to contribute and move on to let somebody else have a shot. The practical reality in Fullerton is that incumbents like Bankhead and Jones are virtually guaranteed re-election.
In any case the discussion will be (if it happens) good for Fullerton. And Bankhead who is no-doubt planning to run yet again can explain to people why having him around for almost 30 years is a good thing.