I am for term limits. I think term limits strike an effective balance between our city’s two most vital needs: experienced leadership and fresh ideas. I am also for the “two-term” limit that we voted into law in 2000, and so I oppose measure “U,” which would expand the limit to three terms.
I don’t agree with the argument that says that a “two- term” limit will compromise our “institutional memory.” Our city is small enough, and its citizens active enough, that a loss of “institutional memory” is not a material risk. Or as my dad likes to say, “That dog won’t hunt.” (This is weird when you think about it, because my dad is a Jewish intellectual from Boyle Heights.) Now that the court has ruled on the Clintonesque Barovsky litigation, it depends on what your definition of “term”‘ is. The brass ring is within reach for new candidates Mazza, Embree and Gillespie. I invite them to speak out against measure “U” now that the stakes are real. Finally, in the immortal words of Rodney King: “Can we all get along?”
David Fox