From where I am sitting, it seems clear to me that the underlying message our county leadership is sending to us voters about the term limit extension is this: “We are doing a good job, so we deserve more time in office.”
While I agree that the County Executive and County Council deserve credit for the current positive trajectory in Prince George’s County, this reasoning also leads to the most obvious objection to the term limit extension idea: Without term limits, none of our current county leaders would be in office. In our system of incumbent slates and “sample ballot” advertisements, it is virtually impossible for an incumbent to lose an election. Without term limits, Rushern Baker and Mel Franklin would only be waging hopeless campaigns against long-term incumbents.
These same politicians have tried twice before to remove term limits imposed by voters. They have no honor, no integrity and are self serving. As well, their campaign is funded almost entirely by one man, Kenneth Michaels, a developer, who, it would appear, depends on the kindness of “political friends” to do business in Prince George’s. His companies have given $50,000 to the effort.
Thanks for reading, Judy. Your comment also highlights the reason why it is so bad having a small number of elected officials and party insiders decide all of our elections. The insider wheeling and dealing without any fear of the incumbents losing an election is a real invitation to shady dealing. To make things better and more open, we need to break the political machine.
Stay tuned and come back to the blog. It may be election day 2014, but I’m thinking about the 2018 election already!