by Robert M. Traxler

A recent editorial in Townbroadcast brought up the subject of service to our local governments in a discussion about who is qualified and how long folks should be allowed to serve our local, state, and national governments.

The current term limits movement started in the 1990s. The Supreme Court stated in U.S. Term Limits vs Thornton that states could not limit the terms of United States Senators and Representatives. The anger then was directed at folks who could be term limited, in state and local governments.

The movement started over some elected officials in Washington who resided in the swamp that is Washington and forgot about the folks at home. Some in the House and Senate moved their families to the Washington area and only maintained a post office box, or in one case a mother-in-law’s retirement home, as a local address. They purchased homes in Washington, DC or the surrounding areas and sent their children to prestigious private schools like Sidwell Friends, Pre-kindergarten to 12^th grade, that costs up to $40,000 per year. That is not a misprint: $40,000.

If you live in Lansing, send your children to school in Lansing, and rarely visit Dorr, Hopkins, Martin, Moline or Wayland, then you should be voted out of office in the State House or Senate. We do indeed have term limits, called elections. A political figure who loses touch with the everyday folks in the district cannot serve the people of that district and needs to look elsewhere for work.

A recent story in Townbroadcast told about a longtime member of the Dorr Planning Commission who according to Trustees Terri Rios and John Tuinstra, should be term limited out of office. Are there term limits for appointed folks in Dorr? No, no there are not.

Let’s be honest; both elected officials have been accused of wiretapping folks they do not feel should be on the Planning Commission, and as collateral damage, three private citizens as well. In fairness, Ms. Rios has denied involvement, but Mr. Tuinstra maintains he accidentally left a recording device placed in a location out of normal view during and after a Planning Commission meeting. If true, then perhaps you should ask yourself when was the last time you hid a recording device in a public building and then forgot it and walked out without it?

The wiretap came on the heels of Ms. Rios complaining to the Township Board about commission members socializing after their meeting ended, in what she referred to as an illegal meeting, and a violation of the Open Meetings Act. She and Mr. Tuinstra had attempted to prevent reappointment of the commission chairperson.

The term limits movement has a point in wishing to limit the time elected officials spend away from the people they represent. However, if you live in Dorr, Wayland, Hopkins, Martin or Moline and spend two-thirds of your life in those communities, shop in the stores, eat in the restaurants, attend the churches and speak with your neighbors, term limits make no sense.

A planning commissioner must look to the long-term good of the township or city; playing musical chairs with the members, changing them every six or nine years, will lose continuity and be disastrous for long-term planning vital to controlled growth.

An interesting note: Mr. Tuinstra apparently is running for a third four-year term as trustee. Please pick a side; are you for term limits or not? What is good for everyone else is not for Mr. Tuinstra?

Sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander, do what I say not what I do? Can we say hypocrite?

EDITOR’S NOTE: In the interests of full disclosure, the three long-time members of the Planning Commission Ms. Rios and Mr. Tuinstra have targeted for removal because of term limits are the author, Chairman Bob Wagner and Commissioner Larry Dolegowski. They have not been successful, but they have come close.