I think it is safe to assume that most everyone understands that term limits usually mean to reduce the number of years an elected official can hold office. Now I am all for eliminating career politicians and all others that grift off the public too. We tend to forget though that there is a veritable army of people who can serve their entire careers in public office but never face re-election--enter the career bureaucrat.
From Miriam-Webster: In French, a bureau is a desk, so bureaucracy means basically "government by people at desks".
Now we all know the government is a giant bureaucracy so the definition fits very well. This is also the position everyone forgets when term limits are brought up. I have come to the point in my life where I can honestly say I remember Gerald Ford to our current head of state. I can tell you Nancy has been in office far too long, and so has most every other congress critter, but how long have some of the underlings that serve them been in their offices...or do the elected serve the bureaucrat?
So for me term limits should affect every member of every government from Homeowner's Associations, to the Federal level, excepting those positions that constitutionally are life-time appointments (ie The Supreme Court). That said how do we do this? Well if we limit Senetors to two terms that is twelve years, so no one can serve in government either by appointment or election for a time greater than twelve years. Basically if your pay-check is made out by another government employee the term limits hit you. The day you are hired or sworn in the clock starts.
Some may have noted (hello lawyers who read this) that I used a very broad and general term "no one can serve in government either by appointment or election for a time greater than twelve years", nope that was not a mistake. The intent is to prevent job hopping within the bureaucracy. So six years in rabies control and you run for mayor means you can't hold another elected position unless it is a two year term as you are out of time. No one should be able to draw a lifetime pension (or health insurance) on the public dime, these jobs are "public service" positions and we treat them as hollowed jobs that are beyond reproach, but ask yourself how often does an appointed person hire their brother or sister to do work in the government because they need the job?
Will there be unintended fallout? Yes, mostly in the case of public defenders. The upside is it also hits prosecutors and judges, two positions that in my opinion could use some clean up. The real issues will be in the daily grind of things like public utilites where "Bob" who knows where every water line is in a 20 block radius of his house is forced out, but the same issue will happen when Bob retires too.
I have to get to work now where I am scheduled to meet with a city bureaucrat for a building inspection--no that did not prompt this. So that's my two cents of opinion for the day.
Maura
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