On Friday, March 18, 2011 the San Francisco Chronicle published an open forum article sent by Quentin L. Kopp, a former superior court judge, state senator, and member of San Francisco Board of Supervisors. In letter the or article, whichever it my technically be, he calls for the repeal to the California State Constitution. He wants the state constitutional amendment concerning imposed term limits because he believes that recent legislation in California has taken the proper steps to make term limits unnecessary.
One solution to the career politicians that opponents of term limits have is to take away the power to redraw district lines. Politicians in most states have the power to redraw district lines every time a census or other poll is taken. This is necessary because has population fluctuates representation for certain areas must be reapportioned for equal representation.
California has passed two laws that make a 14 member citizen panel for both state legislative and congressional districts.
The one problem I can see is that a person of high socio-economical background would follow the NIMBY (not in my back yard) attitude, by not wanting people of lower socio-economic situation to be in their district, to where elected officials are trying to get a certain group of people to get re-elected. Either way there will be abuse. With term limits, the politicians could continue to reapportion districts but wouldn’t have the re-election notion in mind.
Another thing states can do is get rid of political party primaries and make open primaries, which means any registered voter can vote for any candidate, regardless of party affiliation. This is a step in the right direction, but it can leave to a certain problems. This could lead to people in parties voting for the person whom they believe have the best shot to win the elections and not necessarily the best. Put this system into place with term limits and all the candidates will be qualified and dedicated.
While all the legislation is a good idea, it is not enough to ensure that incumbency domination and seniority would not eventually rule. If a politician is allowed to win one election is it known that he will be greatly supported by lobbyist and parties so that they can throw more money at a campaign which is usually enough to beat down opponents.
It should also be noted that Quentin L. Kopp was once in favor of the term limits legislation passed in California.
