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Independence, MO —
A task force looking at possible changes to the Jackson County Charter continues its work with a public hearing this evening.
It’s at 5 p.m. in the legislative chambers on the second floor of the Courthouse at 415 E. 12th Street in downtown Kansas City. Citizens who wish to address the group will be asked to focus their comments on one of the three issues the task force is addressing:
• Whether the county should have term limits for county legislators or the sheriff, prosecutor or county executive.
• Whether the county should set limits on how much an individual can give to a candidate for any of those offices.
• Whether the county should change the process to determine the order in which candidates appear on the ballot.
The task force has been kicking those issues around for weeks, although it appears that at least one – campaign contribution limits – is off the table. An analysis by the county counselor’s office says that’s in the hands of the Missouri General Assembly. State legislators a few years ago invalidated limits that had been imposed by voters. The task force, the counselor’s office suggests, could encourage the county executive or county legislators to lobby Jefferson City for changes.
Any changes to the charter would need voter approval. The task force has to forward its recommendation by Aug. 6 to give the County Legislature enough time to put the issue on the November ballot.
The county prosecutor, Jean Peters Baker, last week told the task force the term limit and campaign-contribution questions are connected. She said contribution limits are “critical to good government.” Those who run for office, she said, will tell voters that the phone call from a high-dollar donor is returned no more quickly than one from the average citizen.
“But I think that’s hard to say with a straight face,” said Peters, a former state representative.
Term limits, however, shift the balance of power toward special interests and their lobbyists, she said. Newly elected legislators, grappling with such new-on-the-job things as procedural rules and committee assignments, spend much of the eight years they’re allowed in the House or Senate getting up to speed.
“That takes time to figure out. And you can’t do that – honestly, you can’t do that in a short period of time,” she said. “So that eight-year imposed deadline on state representatives I think has a negative impact on the quality of service that you get from your elected representatives because when you get really experienced, competent and qualified in that job, it is time to go home.”
A task force looking at possible changes to the Jackson County Charter continues its work with a public hearing this evening.
It’s at 5 p.m. in the legislative chambers on the second floor of the Courthouse at 415 E. 12th Street in downtown Kansas City. Citizens who wish to address the group will be asked to focus their comments on one of the three issues the task force is addressing:
• Whether the county should have term limits for county legislators or the sheriff, prosecutor or county executive.
• Whether the county should set limits on how much an individual can give to a candidate for any of those offices.
• Whether the county should change the process to determine the order in which candidates appear on the ballot.
The task force has been kicking those issues around for weeks, although it appears that at least one – campaign contribution limits – is off the table. An analysis by the county counselor’s office says that’s in the hands of the Missouri General Assembly. State legislators a few years ago invalidated limits that had been imposed by voters. The task force, the counselor’s office suggests, could encourage the county executive or county legislators to lobby Jefferson City for changes.
Any changes to the charter would need voter approval. The task force has to forward its recommendation by Aug. 6 to give the County Legislature enough time to put the issue on the November ballot.
The county prosecutor, Jean Peters Baker, last week told the task force the term limit and campaign-contribution questions are connected. She said contribution limits are “critical to good government.” Those who run for office, she said, will tell voters that the phone call from a high-dollar donor is returned no more quickly than one from the average citizen.
“But I think that’s hard to say with a straight face,” said Peters, a former state representative.
Term limits, however, shift the balance of power toward special interests and their lobbyists, she said. Newly elected legislators, grappling with such new-on-the-job things as procedural rules and committee assignments, spend much of the eight years they’re allowed in the House or Senate getting up to speed.
“That takes time to figure out. And you can’t do that – honestly, you can’t do that in a short period of time,” she said. “So that eight-year imposed deadline on state representatives I think has a negative impact on the quality of service that you get from your elected representatives because when you get really experienced, competent and qualified in that job, it is time to go home.”
But Steve Glorioso, who’s long been active in local Democratic politics and who was around when the current charter was adopted in 1972, said officials at that time looked closely at term limits. The charter explicitly sets up Jackson County’s government along the lines of the federal government, with independent legislative, executive and judicial branches. Federal offices, except for president, have no term limits.
Glorioso said he favored term limits as a check on the power of incumbents, who usually raise far more money than their challengers and who usually are re-elected. But he agreed that the eight-year limit in Jefferson City hasn’t worked and suggested 12 years instead.
He also threw out the idea of three terms – 12 years – for county officials, but pointed out that only one county executive has been elected to a third term.
It’s different for legislators, several of whom are well past three four-year terms. From Eastern Jackson County, for example, Bob Spence, R-Lee’s Summit, is in his fourth term, Dennis Waits, D-Independence, is in his seventh, and Fred Arbanas, D-Lee’s Summit, is in his 11th. Greg Grounds, R-Blue Springs, and Theresa Garza-Ruiz, D-Blue Springs, are in the middle of their second terms.
Glorioso suggested grandfathering in current legislators.
“If people had to count their current terms, you would in effect be picking winners and losers,” he said.
The task force also has a limited ability to deal with the order in which candidates’ names appear on the ballot – an issue that helped lead to the formation of the task for in the first place when a couple of county legislators pushed for changes. Being at the top is generally thought to give a candidate an edge, and in the past candidates have gone to great lengths to get into the courthouse and be first in line when filing for office opens. In Jackson County, candidates appear in the order in which they file – an issue at the discretion of the county clerk.
To address that, officials would have to get state legislators to take away that discretion and let counties order their clerks to adopt a random order-selection process.
A member of the task force, local attorney Bunk Farrington, said that’s unlikely.
“They’ve got their own agenda down there about the way they think about things,” he said.
