Tammany Together Says Term Limits Proposal is Flawed,
Recommends Simpler Choices

Tammany Together, Inc. has adopted a resolution saying that the wording of the term limits amendment introduced at a recent Parish Council meeting is seriously flawed, and calling for simpler wording to give voters a clearer set of choices.

Ordinance Number 3571, "…amending…the Home Rule Charter…to provide with respect to term limits for Parish Government Elected Officials", was introduced at the Parish Council meeting on June 7, 2007. In introducing the ordinance, its author said its purpose was to allow voters to decide whether the Parish President and the Parish Council would serve under equal conditions with respect to term limits. The ordinance would place a multiple-choice amendment on the October, 2007, ballot in which voters would decide whether term limits would be imposed equally on both the Parish President and the Parish Council, or, alternatively, whether term limits would be eliminated altogether. By defeating both proposals, voters could also exercise the option of maintaining the status quo, with the Parish President remaining limited to three consecutive four-year terms, and Parish Council members serving four-year terms without term limits, as they do now.

However, independent analyses of the actual wording of the amendment revealed that a vote "for" term limits would restart the "term limit clock" for the Parish President, giving the incumbent the opportunity to serve a total of five consecutive terms, assuming the amendment were approved by voters in October of 2007. Several members of the public expressed their disapproval of this aspect of the amendment at the Council’s June meeting.

At its regular meeting on June 11, 2007, the Board of Directors of Tammany Together, Inc. adopted a resolution which makes the following points:

1. Tammany Together agrees that voters should be given the opportunity to decide whether term limits will be equally imposed on both the Parish President and the Parish Council.

2. The present wording of the amendment proposed in Ordinance Number 3571 is seriously flawed and should not be placed on the ballot. The present wording is confusing and does not clearly state that if term limits for both the Parish President and Parish Council are approved in October of 2007, the "term limit clock" for the Parish President will be restarted, allowing the incumbent the opportunity to serve a total of five consecutive terms.

3. The ordinance should be reworded to provide simpler language and to give voters a clearer set of choices. The choices should be:

1. To impose term limits on the Parish Council
2. To remove term limits from the Parish President

(By defeating both proposals, voters would elect to maintain the status quo.)

4. If the present wording of the amendment is not modified as suggested, Ordinance Number 3571 should be withdrawn by its author. If the ordinance is not withdrawn, it should not be adopted by the Parish Council.