Editorial/Op
“Do As I Say, Not As I Do”
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Tuesday night Central’s City Council voted to implement Term Limits of three terms (12 years) beginning in 2014. I have no problem with that action, but I do have a problem with Council Members Messina, Washington and LoBue voting to defeat an amendment to the ordinance which would limit THEM to three terms as well. The ordinance, as passed, will allow Council Member Washington to serve as long as 21 years, and Council Members Messina and LoBue to serve as long as 16 years, but will limit newly elected Council Members to 12 years. Messina, Washington and LoBue SAY “three-term limits for everyone”, but what they DO is to exempt themselves. “Do As I Say, Not As I Do.” Congress is putting all of the rest of us on the “Obamacare” health care system, yet the members of congress have their own health care benefits that will not be affected. That feels eerily similar to Tuesday’s vote on Term Limits. They SAY “Obamacare for everyone”, but what they DO is to exempt themselves. “Do As I Say, Not As I Do.”
In 2010 Council Members Messina and LoBue promised to work for 8 year term limits. In the process of approving this ordinance Messina and LoBue helped to vote down an amendment making term limits 8 years instead of 12. What they SAY is “eight years”, but what they DO is vote for twelve years. “Do As I Say, Not As I Do.”
Our representatives in Congress have us making mandatory contributions to Social Security, which is rumored to be headed for collapse, yet those same government officials have their own separate retirement plan and they are exempt from Social Security taxes. I feel about this the same way I feel about the Term Limits vote here in Central. What they SAY is “everyone has to pay into Social Security”, but what they DO is to exempt themselves. “Do As I Say, Not As I Do.”
There were only five people on the face of the Earth that would be affected by the City Council making Council term limits retroactive to 2006…our five sitting Council Members. NO ONE ELSE would be affected AT ALL if they had made term limits retroactive. Yet, three of those five Council Members, Messina, Washington and LoBue, felt justified in exempting themselves from the three-term limit they imposed on everyone else. The message is clear. “Do As I Say, Not As I Do.”
Argue that we need fresh ideas, or that elected officials get complacent, or that they may owe too many political favors as your reason to support term limits…and every one of those arguments could be applied to our current Council members just as easily. If you SAY we need term limits for these or for any other reasons, you should have DONE what you SAID, because all we heard is “Do As I Say, Not As I Do.”
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