Only Term Limits Can Remove Stale Politicians

Several writers have recently opposed term limits on the basis that elected officials not doing their jobs could be voted out of office. That sounds inviting but doesn’t work in practice.

Consider the case of Willie Brown, the poster boy for term limits. In addition to serving his constituents in a small Assembly district in the Bay Area, he had a stranglehold on state politics for many years as speaker of the Assembly. As speaker he had far more effect on me and my family than my own assemblyman. Yet I could not vote him out of office. And there was no chance that he would be defeated by the small number of citizens who elected him in his district. Now we have state Sen. John Burton (D-San Francisco), president pro tem of the Senate, and others trying to stay in office.

For better or worse they have had their turn at the helm. Now it is time for fresh people with fresh ideas. Yes, there are some problems with term limits, but they pale in comparison to the suffocating grip some politicians have imposed on this state.

David R. Gillespie

Bonita, Calif.