Term-limit proposals draw mixed results

Montgomery County joins eight Md. counties with term limits

The third time was the charm for proponents of term limits in Montgomery County, Md. — by a wide margin of more than two to one.

On Election Day, 69 percent of voters cast their ballots to limit County Council members and the county executive to three consecutive four-year terms, effective in 2018.

In 2004, the last time the issue was put to voters, it lost by 4 percentage points; in 2000 it was defeated by 8 percentage points.

The dramatic swing in opinion in Montgomery County, the state’s most populous jurisdiction, came as no surprise to Council President Nancy Floreen, who opposed term limits. She saw it as part of a broader anti-incumbent wave.

“Given the overall tenor of the nation … in terms of a discomfort with government generally, this is just more evidence of that locally.” President-elect Donald Trump made term limits for Congress a part of his platform, and it has sparked renewed interest in the issue.

Several other counties also dealt with length-of-term issues at the ballot box this month. In Anderson County, Tenn., the issue now seems moot, after all but one candidate for its charter commission who favored term limits were defeated.

Commissioner Tim Isbel, who opposed limiting officeholders’ terms, was also a candidate. He says he followed the wishes of his constituents. “When I was campaigning, the people I spoke with had the philosophy that you are term-limited anyway, because if you don’t do a good job, you will be voted out.” He added that since 2010, there has been a turnover of almost 15 commissioners.

Supporters said this will discourage district parochialism, by adding two members who have a countywide perspective.

Voters in the city and County of Honolulu rejected a charter amendment that would have expanded term limits for City Council members from two consecutive terms to three.

In Teller County, Colo., it was the opposite question: whether to do away with term limits. That measure failed 71 percent to 29 percent.

In Montgomery County, four of its current nine council members and the county executive will be ineligible to run for reelection in 2018 as a result of the term-limit vote. And that’s just fine with its chief proponent, Robin Ficker, the county resident who led the campaign to get the issue on the ballot. In fact, he thinks the other five council members not yet affected by term limits should “consider not running again.” He sees the overwhelming passage of term limits as a repudiation of the current council’s policies. “I think we need a new wave,” he said.

A report presented to the County Council earlier this year had recommended against term limits. Its authors concluded from their research that term limits “do not lead to any of the benefits claimed by supporters and instead lead to new problems for citizens.”

They do not bring an influx of people into government with fresh ideas nor lead to more diverse candidates being elected, the report stated, and the power of incumbency is not as great an impediment to new candidates — at least at the state and local levels — as some presume.

But Ficker believes that incumbency is an unfair advantage. “It’s not like we’re in a county of ignoramuses,” he said. “This is a bedroom of the nation’s capital; we have tens of thousands of people who have vast experience working with government and in government.” And yet, he cited an example of when there were four open seats on the County Council, and only six candidates on the ballot. “People realize that it’s hopeless to run against incumbents for these low-visibility offices in huge districts.”

In neighboring Prince George’s County, which has had term limits since the 1990s, voters approved Question D by a margin of 66 percent to 34 percent. It would add two at-large members to the current nine-member council and also addresses the length of terms.  Supporters said this will discourage district parochialism, by adding two members who have a countywide perspective.

A council member who has served two consecutive terms as a district member is ineligible to serve more than two consecutive terms as an at-large member.

Seven other Maryland counties — Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Carroll, Frederick, Harford, Howard and St. Mary’s — already have term limits.