Sun
Jan 14 2007
10:38 am
Term limit curiosities
By: R. Neal

A few questions I was pondering...

- Since the Tennessee Supreme Court didn't mandate a timetable for appointing replacements, could County Commission drag their feet right up until the Aug. 2008 elections, leaving all term-limited officials in office until then?

- If someone is appointed and then stands for election and wins, does their appointed term count against the two-term limit?

- Should replacement candidates take a pledge to not seek election in order to reset the playing field and eliminate the incumbency advantage?

- What about Indya's suggestion in comments below that now would be a good time for Knox County to go on a staggered election cycle for County Commission, thus providing better continuity under term limits?

- How long before someone petitions for a referendum to abolish term limits, or at least restrict them to County Mayor and County Commission?

UPDATE: Michael Silence weighs with his thoughts, including his answers to these questions.

Topics:
CL's picture

Appointed term

Submitted by CL on Sun, 2007/01/14 - 12:40pm.

- If someone is appointed and then stands for election and wins, does their appointed term count against the two-term limit?

No, it does not count. I read that yesterday but I can't remember where. It was either on the last couple of pages of the opinion or the TCA.

Barry's picture

If that's true...

Submitted by Barry on Mon, 2007/01/15 - 11:23am.

If it's true that appointed commissioners won't have their abbreviated term count against them should they decide to run for office in 2008, doesn't that logically also mean the term-limited Commissioners could simply be appointed back to their old seats - since the abbreviated terms won't count against term-limits?

They wouldn't be able to run again in 2008, but they would still serve out the remainder of this term.

I can totally see, politically, the Commission doing this "to ensure a smooth transition of power" and to "not disrupt the efficient running of Knox County government services" and to "thank all the outgoing commissioners for their years of outstanding service", etc. etc.

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