Term limits

[Anonymous]

This is a general question about your thoughts on term limits. When I moved to Virginia, I was surprised to discover that the governor serves only one four-year term and is ineligible for re-election for the next term. Do you think governors in our state should be allowed to serve two back-to-back terms? Also, do you think there should be limits to how long someone can serve in Congress?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is a general question about your thoughts on term limits. When I moved to Virginia, I was surprised to discover that the governor serves only one four-year term and is ineligible for re-election for the next term. Do you think governors in our state should be allowed to serve two back-to-back terms? Also, do you think there should be limits to how long someone can serve in Congress?

My opinion changes depending on which branch of government we're talking about. I don't care much for executive term limits, but I think they're mostly harmless (and, given the current occupant of the White House, can be beneficial). I strongly support 20-year terms for Supreme Court justices, renewable at the pleasure of the sitting president. However, I firmly believe legislative term limits are profoundly antidemocratic and an incredibly bad idea to boot.

- First, we already have term limits - they're called elections. If a constituency is satisfied with their representative, they should be able to keep them in office for as long as they like.

- Contrary to what a lot of people seem to think, politics is a profession, with its own sets of rules and skills. Like any profession, time and experience matters. Term limits rob the People of expertise developed over time in office.

- Term limits dilute representation, with decisions increasingly made by unelected professional staff.

- Term limits do not address corruption or self-dealing. Why would they? If anything, term limits could attract candidates looking for a quick score or to get a foot in the revolving door.

- Term limits do not effectively address the advantages of incumbency - look to districting and campaign finance reform to create a more level playing field for opponents. Experience, name recognition, etc. naturally lead to institutional support and an upper hand in fundraising.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is a general question about your thoughts on term limits. When I moved to Virginia, I was surprised to discover that the governor serves only one four-year term and is ineligible for re-election for the next term. Do you think governors in our state should be allowed to serve two back-to-back terms? Also, do you think there should be limits to how long someone can serve in Congress?

NP.At minimum 2 four-year terms for VA Gov. But limit it to 3 or 4 terms. Even that could be too much for a very diverse state --NoVa, Southeastern, middle VA, eastern VA, cities, suburbs, red blue and purple all around. What other states have one four-year term? What are benefits of a 1 four-year term?