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| Agree is the unanimous answer I have seen in every town hall in which I have asked the audience "Should all elected offices have term limits?" |
At every town hall I do in my district I always take a moment to do an unofficial "poll" of the audience on various topics of interest. It is amazing the visceral reaction when I ask about term limits. It is a sea of "agree" cards appearing in the audience when I ask "should the terms of office for U.S. Congress and Senate have limits?"
I always ask the same question about locally elected positions like the one in which I serve--county commissioner. Same result--a sea of "agree" cards.
So it comes as no surprise to me that Representative Michelle Salzman filed a bill this past week to specifically limit the terms of office for County Commissioners around the state. She and I have actually discussed it a number of times and I was aware she'd be filing the bill. We are friends.
My prediction is it will pass, some form of it (perhaps with 12 years instead of 8 consecutive) will pass the legislature--and then I believe the voters will pass it on the November, 2024 ballot. I believe it will easily exceed the 60% threshold necessary to revise the constitution. And I say "good." Because I support term limits.
But here is where I think a major issue lies: If we are truly going to be dyed-in-the wool, puritan, strident adherents to the absolute and unconditional doctrine of term limits for all elected constitutional officers statewide--why take the easy, lazy road by simply limit them to school board members last session and now, apparently, county commissioners this time? I mean, if we truly want to demonstrate that this is not somehow targeted toward only these two particular offices--why not simply add all elected county constitutional offices to this legislation? And this isn't a shot at any other constitutional office or officeholder beyond the school board and commissioners---It is a fair question and one for which a cogent answer should be given by those bill sponsors who seek to limit terms of some, but not others. And make no mistake, that is what this is, a limit on some and no limits on others, for expediency.
Otherwise, we would see Senator Ignolia (a really smart and effective legislator) and Rep. Salzman and the rest of them proudly and publicly add-in Clerks of the Court, Supervisors of Elections, County Sheriffs, County Tax Collectors, and County Property Appraisers to the term-limit, feel good, red meat legislation. So why are they not doing it--I mean, they themselves are term-limited to 8 years, they want to limit commissioners and have already limited school board members---so why not the rest of the constitutional officers too if this is really, truly, only a puritanical, ideologically-driven piece of legislation and nothing more and not some shot at only one class of elected office, commissioners?
I know the answer, and they do, too. They won't do it, they can't do it-- because if they did, they'd lose
support for the whole bill and it would not pass. Each class of elected constitutional has a strong lobby pushing their interests and weilding a lot of power--some more than others
So yes, in many ways this is targeted to commissioners. The timing and the bill carrier are also not coincidental.
Because we are the flavor du jour of those who are easy marks, one rung removed from school board members. Last year, the school boards. This year, with the disastrous consequences of the live local act and many commissioners, myself front and center, voicing displeasure at the preemption of local control that bill created---yes this year it is our turn.
So let's do a quick thought experiment, shall we? I'm going to channel my best Carnack the Magnificent in order to Fast forward to November 6, 2024. The day after the election comes, the term limiting of county commissioners occurs, red meat Republicans in Tallahasse celebrate this victory, and then subsequently not another bill is filed ever again limiting any other county elected constitutional position..... Abracadabra, the future, there it is. That is what will happen post-passage: not another bill after.
So, you see, getting back to my particular stance on this, I agree with term limits. Always have. It is an easy proposition and one for which I have demonstrated when I self-limited my time on the school board and tendered my resignation leaving behind a full two years of my third term in order to run for a higher office. I term-limited myself.
If the Good Lord wills it, I'll limit myself again if I win in 2024.
But the thing to remember is this move is purely political and any legislation that rolls through Tallahassee is political. The tell is easy to spot--being no other constitutional is targeted, too. Not one.
And what these state legislators apparently don't realize is two-fold: Unlike school board members, and some other constitutional offices (tax collectors, supervisors of elections, etc.) some of whom serve for decades and win multiple elections consecutively, unopposed---unlike some of these other offices, County Commissioner elections are bloody, ugly cage matches in most locations and the electorate takes care of the "term-limiting" duties with their votes. Look no further than the wall of portraits of former county commissioners for Escambia County. It is full of one and two termers. Very few multi-term commissioners because the dirty secret everyone knows is this: We make a lot of enemies just doing our jobs and voting on tough issues like zoning and approving subdivisions and apartments. To quote former Mayor Grover Robinson speaking of his time on the county commission "Enemies accumulate." The second issue is one many a truly cerebral thinker realizes is this. These limitations actually take choice away from the electorate--many of whom want to keep good officeholders locally and not limit them because they know term limited offices create much stronger staffs and bureacratic organizations---- much more succeptible to influence by lobbiests and special interests.
So we will see what happens with this.
But yes, we were and are targeted.
And it is not a binary choice to either acknowledge we are targeted or support term limits.
I see them both.
In fact, she and other state officials are positioning themselves nicely to swoop into lucrative commissionerships if they fail in their bids to land in the DC swamp.
ReplyDeleteSo that's one self-enriching point to all this--a whole lotta current state legislators positioned to run for county commissioner in the near future to bulk up those high 5's.
Then, of course, there is keeping things chaotic on a local level so the State can continue to solidify its authoritarian control. Florida has already tipped into actual fascism. Our governor is in fact a dictator (we'll see if he can hold the line after continuing to make an ass of himself on the presidential circuit--with Michelle cheerleading for his pathetic disgrace); his administration is a plutocratic oligarchy; and our legislature is their banana republic.
Michelle Salzman, Alex Andrade, and Doug Broxson have not only voted to increase authoritarian control over and over, but have been some of the key architects of the policies. This is just the first time people alarmed about the demise of this state's democracy are really noticing her place in all this. All three of our delegates have been very faithful lap dogs for the Florida GOP's evolution into a fascist autocracy.
If she wants to prove people wrong on that, she could do so very simply by (1) increasing the term limits to 3 or 4 terms (which any reasonable person should support, given the gerontocracy that's bogging down DC); and (2) including constitutional officers for limits.
The first she might do--who knows. On a County level, it's very difficult to get meaningful, big ticket accomplishments done in two terms (contrary to ECUA policy board members, who don't actually do much). And any damage incurred by a befuddled electorate returning somebody like Doug Underhill to power would at least have a clear end in sight.
The second--I'd be very surprised that Salzman or any other republican has the moral courage or ethics to go up against sheriffs, tax collectors, clerks, and property appraisers. The Florida "republican" party much prefers to punch down with their bully tactics.
So now we can add county commissioners to the mix of their targets along with Black people, victims of contractor fraud, LGBTQ+, school board members, victims of gun violence, elected prosecutors, constitutional districting, Disney workers, current residents impacted by their contractor-friendly Flood Your Neighbor bills, and on an on it goes. And on and on it will continue to go. Who's up next?
PS. It wasn't Grover who said "Enemies accumulate."
ReplyDeleteThat was Doug Underhill, claiming that Grover provided him that warning at the start of his tenure. Whether Grover actually offered Doug that caution of a seasoned veteran, in reality Doug made that statement on the dais to publicly threaten Grover not to vote for opening Beach Access 4.
Thankfully, Grover ignored it and helped usher in the 4-1. Predictably, Doug retaliated against him by officially endorsing Brian Spencer for mayor, if memory serves almost immediately after. It of course backfired on Brian Spencer (and who knows if he even *wanted* the endorsement, which was made on Facebook, natch); Doug and Morgan's imprimatur may very well have made the difference in Grover pulling out a victory. With friends like that, nobody needs enemies accumulating. :)