Arlington term-limit committee is nothing but an effort to overturn an election

My organization, U.S. Term Limits, America’s largest group advocating for term limits, has been involved in more than 500 ballot drives throughout the country. By and large, they play out in the same way.

A tireless group of citizens, fed up with corruption and self-dealing, creates a referendum to enact term limits. After all, it’s the most popular and bipartisan issue in America, supported by supermajorities of Republican, Democratic and independent voters. Term limits enable fresh voices and ideas to enter government.

But not everyone is excited. local political elites – those facing the prospect of losing their privilege and perks – mobilize their political machines to sabotage the term limits effort. They ask lobbyists, staff, bureaucrats, campaign managers, family members and friends to pose as grassroots activists, to make the issue appear to be a tossup.

They create competing, phony ballot measures to confuse voters. And finally – after voters are able to cast ballots and put the term limits nail into the career politicians’ coffins, these politicians immediately start scheming to repeal the term limits that just passed.

This is the scenario playing out in Arlington right now. It is dishonest, underhanded and offensive to the very notion of a republic.

The Arlington City Council is attempting what we refer to as “the committee scam.” This con job is so common, we have a file on it at our headquarters. It begins when a pack of politicians wants to rip apart their own term limits – in order to keep power – but also wants to shirk blame for undoing the people’s will.

So, they create an “independent” commission to tell them exactly what they want to hear: that term limits are horrible and need to be shredded.

The rationale for Arlington’s Term Limits Advisory Committee is absurd, as it is working to find fault with a term limits law that is less than two years old. It was created before two-thirds of Arlington voters passed six-year term limits in November 2018. Its very existence was premeditated by the politicians own self-interest in staying in power.

Comments from the committee’s hand-picked appointees have been predictably hilarious. Member Jim Maibach said “it’s so undemocratic and un-American to have lifetime bans.”

Maibach might want to ask his American history teacher for a refund. Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin believed in term limits, with Franklin favoring a three-year limit, even shorter than what Arlington voters passed. And of course, the U.S. Constitution imposes a lifetime ban on the presidency. Do local officials in Arlington need more time to learn their jobs than the leader of the free world? That very suggestion is the height of arrogance.

We stand with the people of Arlington, who won their David vs. Goliath fight to enact term limits in 2018. Know that what you’re seeing now is a common response when politicians see their power slipping away.

Keep up your fight for term limits. Never believe the ridiculous and self-serving claim that only nine individuals in a vibrant city of 400,000 are qualified for public service.