Arlington’s term limits committee drew 95 applicants. How did leaders choose?
From a pool of nearly 100 applicants, Arlington City Council members appointed outspoken advocates on each side of the issue to the Term Limits Advisory Committee — a decision that they have defended as critics claimed leaders stacked the odds in favor of relaxed limits for the council and mayor.
Applications obtained by the Fort Worth Star-Telegram show that 95 people applied to serve on the 24-member panel as early as October 2018 — days before voters approved the city’s three two-year term restrictions for the city council and mayor. Each city council member appointed two applicants, and Mayor Jeff Williams appointed eight, including representatives from community groups including Arlington NAACP and the U.S. Pan Asian American Chamber of Commerce.
The committee reported to the council Tuesday that the group’s consensus favored four two-year terms and the option to seek re-election two years after terming out. The recommendation would rid the city of its six-year cap on city council and mayoral terms.
Critics in favor of standing term limits, including some committee members and District 3 Councilman Marvin Sutton, have said the group was stacked in a way that heavily favored softening term limits.
“There was no way you could walk away from that meeting not knowing it would come out recommending to rewrite term limits in my mind,” Sutton said.
Committee formation to discuss and try to soften term limits is a common method among municipal governments, said Nick Tomboulides, executive director of nonprofit group U.S. Term Limits.
“The elected officials, they always want to gut term limits, but they don’t want any of the blame for it,” he said.
But Williams and other council members said they offered up the names of those who cared about the city and would keep an open mind to the process.
Appointees included Chad Bates, who donated $3,000 to the PAC We Love Arlington, and Jim Maibach, a longtime campaign donor who has served on various boards and commissions. Sheri Capehart, District 2, said she appointed Maibach because he has heavily invested time and effort into city development and brought a business perspective to the conversation.
“Just because someone supports a certain initiative in Arlington shouldn’t disqualify them from participating in a committee,” Capehart said in a phone interview. “That seems disingenuous.”
Williams opened applications for the committee once in 2018, then again in 2020, because he said voters told him they wanted term limits, but not necessarily the strictest in the state.
“We had droves of citizens coming to this council and myself that said, ‘Mayor, we know you can put something else on the ballot, but we need term limits now,’” he said during the Aug. 4 evening council meeting.
The committee’s four meetings, which combined lasted over 13 hours, often grew contentious as some called the effort a “sham” and “dog-and-pony” show. Karen Kennard, the former Austin city attorney who city officials brought in as a facilitator, interrupted people who began talking over one another or questioning the committee’s purpose.
Among the 95 applicants were former city council member Joe Bruner, as well as Alisa Simmons, president of Arlington NAACP and Luis Castillo, president for the Arlington chapter of League of United Latino American Citizens.
Castillo, who said in multiple comments during the proceedings that the lack of term limits deter people of color from running, said the committee served the council’s interest of keeping power.
“I think it’s just an outright abuse of power,” he said. “The way I see it, it’s self-interest.”
Meanwhile, Linton Davis, who applied in October 2018, wanted to discuss more lenient term limits as a means to ensure those in power are able to advance the city while allowing others to apply.
“I’m always generally in favor of term limits,” he said, “but there is a point at which you need to balance the need for continuity of leadership with the notion that you don’t want professional politicians.”
The City Council could vote whether to place the recommendations up for vote. Officials have not yet proposed to place the item on a ballot. The deadline to place items on the Nov. 3 ballot is Aug. 17.
Sutton, who was one of two council members to oppose the committee’s formation in late June, helped garner the 11,000 petition signatures to place term limits on the November 2018 ballot. Around 63% of the over 98,000 voters approved the measure, which Sutton said should’ve ended the council’s discussion.
“What was the urgency if we’re eventually get this to the ballot box?” he asked. “What was the urgency?”
Capehart said during the meeting the group’s task was simple, therefore requiring only a handful of meetings. She said she doesn’t understand the reluctance to hold a vote on the alternative — especially if rejecting the alternatives means the city will keep existing term limits.
“Why is it ever a bad thing to give the voters an option?” She asked. “If the voters are really happy with whatever they have now, whenever they have this on the ballot, they’ll vote it down.”
Dr. Barbara Odom-Wesley, District 8 councilwoman, said she appointed people who would represent the city’s diversity. She, like Sutton, voted against forming the committee because she believed the city should have more time to evaluate the term limits’ effectiveness. However, she said she didn’t understand the level of public outcry the committee drew.
“In my opinion, it’s such a minute change that I don’t know if it’s worth all the grief,” she said.
This story was originally published August 7, 2020 at 8:52 AM.
