Chafing Under Term Limits, Local Pols Act

Elected officials nationwide push for more time in office
By Gabriel Winant,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 10, 2008 10:41 AM CDT
Chafing Under Term Limits, Local Pols Act
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg prepares to testify on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, July 31, 2008. Bloomberg is one mayor who's expressed interest in repealing term limits.   (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

Local politicians across the country are mounting campaigns against the term-limits laws that threaten to force them from office, reports the New York Times. More than 20 governments—including New York City's—are considering repealing term limits, with term-limited politicians spearheading the challenges. "We do a lot of churning here, but we don’t produce a lot of butter," said San Antonio's lame-duck mayor.

"It turns the running of government, to a large degree, to individuals who’ve never been elected by anybody," a Tennessee mayor says of government bureaucrats. Most communities considering a repeal will hold a vote, but New York’s city council may act unilaterally, heightening the threat of a backlash. "To bypass the will of the people without their permission strikes me as profoundly selfish and undemocratic," says a pro-term-limits activist.
(More term limits stories.)

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