Term Limits are necessary

Years ago, I was totally against term limits. My thinking was, if they are doing such a lousy job, people will vote them out. In my mind, that was the democratic way. But living here in Lake Worth and being interested in the local political scene, I had an "incite to reality" one evening that changed my mind forever on term limits.

I ran into the McKinnons at the Cultural Plaza and Mary Jane said to me, "You elected your representatives, let them make the decisions and stop this." I forget why we were gathering signatures but it might have been Amendment 4 or the Supermajority. It was at that very moment I realized that my thinking had been flat wrong against term limits. They were necessary afterall. This was government by the people and for the people, not government for the elected few and their cronies.

We all know that once politicians win they stop listening to half the people. Sometimes they don't even listen to their supporters, the people who helped them along the way. They seem to listen to special interests and those groups that could possibly help their re-election, or they end up listening to themselves. We have some elected officials in Lake Worth who believe that all of us are a pain in the ass. Even Channel 12 has had to shame the city to no avail. One commissioner running for re-election has taken the strangest approach to politicking--he is not even cordial unless you are one of his known supporters. Power corrupts and it can breed arrogance.

Mac McKinnon was part of one of the worst commissions ever but a football field had been named after him and he was a "favorite" coach at Lake Worth High...he had many fans and was elected into office to make important decisions that would affect all of us. He was the darling of certain political factions. Another district, District 1, is an impossible nut to crack. That district has elected people forever as there are few who want to subject themselves to the abuse. Kissing everyone's "behind" in the campaigning process is bad enough.

Right now, Boynton Beach is tossing back and forth the idea of ending term limits. They want to be bad commissioners for life. That would be a big mistake. It is hard to defeat an incumbent because of all the uniformed voters. Name recognition helps to get votes. Those in office develop ties with lobbyists and special interests sometimes/often times to the detriment of their constituents and the city that they serve.  You get the firefighter's endorsement and a low information voter receives that flyer in the mail. People love firemen.

Boynton Beach has had its share of trouble with elected officials as has West Palm Beach. Term limits would help get new blood to run and open up the democratic process for more participation in government. Let's keep the process honest. Boynton has three year terms and they might want to rethink this and keep term limits. Let's change our Charter and get term limits in Lake Worth. Two terms is enough.

As some wise person said, "We should have learned by now that skill in running and winning does not translate into skill in ruling." We have seen proof of that in many past decisions here in Lake Worth, i.e., County Water Contract, unfavorable PBSO Contract price, the FMPA contract, Greater Bay and Sun Recycling on our landfill to name a few.