Considering Term Limits In Parish Government

Considering Term Limits In Parish Government

Wednesday, June 27, 2007

Our View

St. Tammany News

The Parish Council would do well to heed the warning of two citizens groups and give more thought to a plan that could impose term limits on the parish president and council members.

Councilman Henry Billiot of Mandeville is pushing for a charter change that would allow voters to either impose term limits for all council members or eliminate the current term-limit ordinance for the parish president. The concept could be approved by the council as early as next week, putting it on the Oct. 20 ballot.

Billiot said he is neither an opponent nor proponent of term limits. His motivation, it seems, stems from his desire that the rules should be the same for the parish president, who now is bound by term limits, and Parish Council members, who are not.

It's never a bad idea to let the voters decide, but in this case his solution of letting the voters decide isn't as simple as it seems. Several citizens groups, for example, oppose the idea because they say the wording on the proposed ballot is confusing and doesn't clearly state that a "no" [sic - should read "yes"] vote would give current Parish President Kevin Davis, who now is limited to three terms, an opportunity to serve two additional terms.

At the very least, representatives of Tammany Together and Smart Growth St. Tammany want to see some revisions in the proposed ballot before it comes before voters. Frankly, we don't see a need to rush this one through, either, not when the implications of this vote are so great.

Unfortunately, the 14 members of the council are in a tough spot. "Term limits" is a popular rallying cry for the public, who mistakenly think that anyone else can do the job better than the incumbent. So, if the council members refuse to put Billiot's proposal on the ballot for voters to decide whether they should be term-limited, they're going to appear like they're trying to protect their own jobs.

Although it can be argued that too many incumbents hang around too long in office, it also can be said that voters already have the final say in who they want to represent them. If someone isn't doing the job at the local level, it won't be long before the voters recognize it and remove him or her from office. At least, that's generally true in St. Tammany Parish. By the same token, performance should be rewarded, which is why it's wise to give careful consideration before buying into the concept that term limits is the perfect solution to what's wrong in government.