Term Limits? In Boston? Crazy Talk!
Boston’s City Council defeated a proposal that would have set term limits for the office of the Mayor and the City Council itself. Doesn’t that seem somewhat ridiculous? The City Council…is voting on whether to impose term limits…on themselves. Yeah, no conflict of interest there at all! Surprisingly the vote was a close 7-6 against. I think the following quote from the Boston.com article states pretty clearly why we SHOULD have term limits in place:
Councilor Charles C. Yancey, who has served 25 years on the council, urged his colleagues to vote against term limits. He said they “artificially restrict choice of voters, and I don’t think that’s fair to voters. I believe the collective of voters has wisdom, and we should not second-guess them.”
It’s my interpretation that anytime a politician invokes fairness in relation to their constituents, one should pretty much assume that they’re serving their own interests. I guess 25 years as a professional politician hasn’t prepared Mr. Yancey for a career in the private sector where you are sometimes expected to actually do some work and NOT take bribes (unlike City Councilor Chuck Turner).
