Daniels calls for change to Jacksonville council term limits

[CS Foltz]

vicupstate...Mr Merserve received $100K plus for being involved in a Real Estate Transaction involving Vescor and supposedly doing nothing at all! I would love to do nothing at all and collect money in that fashion! DPBR seems to think this is a violation, for some reason, and it looks like the SA's Office will be looking into this! I am too old to run for office plus I have a habit of breaking things in half when I get irritated........not good for a public official. I hate ass kissing also!

[JeffreyS]

I used to be in favor of term limits but it has proven to be an obvious failure. Politics is a career people train for and specialize in. We should start thinking of them less as public servants and more as the hired professionals they are or are not and scrutinized as such. I hate the way it feels to acknowledge that but there it is.
Voters have the burden of reevaluating elected officials and keep or dismissing them. Term limits is just shirking responsibility.

[stjr]

I used to be in favor of term limits but it has proven to be an obvious failure. Politics is a career people train for and specialize in. We should start thinking of them less as public servants and more as the hired professionals they are or are not and scrutinized as such. I hate the way it feels to acknowledge that but there it is.
Voters have the burden of reevaluating elected officials and keep or dismissing them. Term limits is just shirking responsibility.

I agree, Jeffrey.  If we want to make the playing field more level, there are other ways to do it.  Especially implementing actions that erode the main advantages of incumbency such as tit for tat, money raising, special interest connections, etc.  One trait that could go either way for incumbents is dealing with the "devil you know versus the one you don't".

Specific ideas include campaign finance reform, transparency in dealings with lobbyists and special interest groups, non-partisan elections, greater access by new and less well funded candidates to media and other public forums reducing the need for expensive TV ads to get exposure, more face-to-face debates, sharper questioning by the media and other scrutinizers, more focus on the issues than the side shows of personalities and sound bites, etc.