Bruce Balshone: Term Limits "Terrible" for Pacifica

Examiner columnist Bruce Balshone analyzes Pacifica's term limit ballot initiative and concludes that it is "a terrible proposition." CLICK HERE TO READ BRUCE'S COLUMN

Comments

[Lionel Emde]

"Two other members, Julie Lancelle and Sue Digre, were both elected in 2002 and just finishing their respective second terms, or eight years of service each."

First mistake: Julie Lancelle served two years as a councilmember in the early 90s as part of the "All-Woman Council."

"To call these (councilmmembers) volunteers — and they more or less are volunteers as the compensation afforded to councilmembers amounts to peanuts every month — is patently ridiculous."

Second mistake: These Pacifica councilmembers are among the highest paid in San Mateo County.
Don't believe it? Check out:
http://www.pacificariptide.com/pacifica_riptide/2009/11/riptide-exclusive-a-closer-comparison-of-city-council-compensation-news-analysis.html

"The spread of terms of service represent the long, the middle, and the new and is actually fairly typical in comparison to other communities and reflects a paced but steady turnover."

Where is the proof of this? Public service on a small (Pacifica!) city council level is not a career. Put another way: Public service is not a JOB. Where is the analysis of other cities' councils, and how long people served, etc.???

The measure is when elected officials begin to believe that they know better than the public and stop listening, period.

[todd bray]

In a nutshell: "Lastly, the term 'career politicians,' as applied to local elected officials, is simply silly. Councilmembers in every Peninsula community are part-time—citizen legislators who spend too much time away from their real jobs and families for these local offices as the work demands are high and escalating every day while any reward for service other than the satisfaction of service itself have changed little in decades."

[Peter Loeb]

His closing sentence: "The term limits initiative in Pacifica is a solution in search of a problem that will actually do far more harm to the city than any potential good."

Amen.

[Tim Brand]

I think he's hit the nail on the head.