Candidate Forum Tonight

— by Jeffrey Wisniewski — 30 September 2010 — Comments Off

There is likely not enough time scheduled for the forum — 7pm at City Hall — to allow for substantive discussion on the numerous issues facing Hercules (e.g., transparency, accountability, a know-nothing City Council, needlessly-delayed development along the Waterfront), and it is a series of statements, not a debate, but it is democracy in action. I assume there will be a question (again) on term limits.1

  1. This is a standard question asked at these events because it is presumed it is a subject of debate. But that debate does not exist, at least in any significant form, in Hercules right now. However, it was asked in 2008, and it will probably be asked again this year. Term limits are undemocratic at root, and only make sense when the election season is of considerable length, e.g., two out of four years for a presidential reelection campaign. Compare that with a three-month campaign season for a four-year term for City Council. In other words, the campaign does not distract from the official’s elected duties, or at least it shouldn’t. An alternative to term limits, without eliminating choice in a democracy but having the effect of a term limit since four years is a very long time in local politics, is to reduce the term length to two years, and either have a full council reelected every two years or alternated every other as it is now. Either way, a mistake by voters will at most be felt for two years, and there would be no need for silly discussion of recalls. Just a thought.↩