When it comes to elections, the local career politicians in New York City and Washington, D.C. would no doubt tell you that “every vote should count.”
But if they told you that’s the way they personally try to govern in their cities, they’d be flat-out lying.
Instead, when it comes to their own political careers, these politicians are eager to trash the voters’ clear desire for term limits. The voters of New York City passed term limits for their mayor, city council and borough officials in 1993. There was no scandal that drove support for limits it was just good public policy, a way to open the political process to new people and keep current politicians a little closer to their communities.
In 1996, New York City politicians put a measure before the voters to lengthen term limits and delay them from going into effect. The voters said NO loud and clear.
Now these same politicians think they have found a legal loophole to repeal the limits without having to let the voters have a say on the matter. They are threatening a repeal as I speak.
In 1994, Washington, D.C. voters passed term limits by nearly two to one it won in every single ward of the city. Now as those limits are about to go into effect, the D.C. City Council is talking about repealing the people’s term limits law.
A Washington Post editorial urged the politicians to ignore the people on the issue and gut term limits. Seems that some folks think every vote should count only if and when that vote is for them.
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.