Term Limit Extension Causes Internal Controversy

by: Jeffco Pols

Mon Jun 22, 2009 at 13:49:27 PM MDT

A ballot measure to extend term limits for Jeffco elected officials (except county commissioners) may be headed for the ballot -- but not without controversy. As The Columbine Courier reports:

An effort by Jeffco District Attorney Scott Storey to extend term limits for his office might be over before the question even goes to voters.

Storey, who began his second term in January, has been trying to get support to extend limits for his and the sheriff's office to three terms, or 12 consecutive years. Current law allows for two consecutive terms, or eight years, for all Jefferson County elected officials.

Storey needs voters' approval to extend term limits, and he could either get on the November ballot by petition, or the question could be placed on the ballot with a majority vote by the county commissioners.

But Commissioner Kevin McCasky is blocking Storey from getting on the commissioners' agenda to ask for a formal vote on the issue, as long as the ballot question pertains only to the district attorney and the sheriff.

"I sit here a frustrated and confused elected official," Storey said at a meeting of the county's elected officials May 14. He detailed his efforts to reach out to all three commissioners to discuss his proposal, and presented a May 10 e-mail he sent to the commissioners formally asking to be on an upcoming agenda for an up or down vote. He said he never got a response from the commissioners.

"I get the message that Commissioner McCasky refuses to allow the district attorney or the sheriff to be on that agenda," Storey said. "I'm obviously a little confused and frustrated by that."

"The feedback that I'm getting is that the only person who wants to be on the ballot is you," McCasky said to Storey. "I believe this is a matter of general governance. Any ballot question is going to include every (elected official)."

McCasky said that although he is the commission's chairman and has "great deference" in setting the agenda, the board rules by majority, implying that a majority of the commissioners didn't want Storey on the agenda.

Storey asked Commissioner Faye Griffin if she voted to keep him off the agenda.

"I did not understand what was going on," Griffin said. "I have no problem putting that on the agenda."

Why the animosity between McCasky and Storey? Because McCasky hasn't been shy about his desire to try to extend his own term limits, since he officially ends his second term in 2012 and doesn't have a higher-profile race that he could successfully run for after that. McCasky is desperate, and if they approve term limit extensions for other elected officials, he can't very well come back to the voters later to ask for commissioners, too.

At the May 14 meeting, McCasky told Storey that extending term limits is a question bigger than any individual.

"This isn't about you, and it isn't about (Sheriff) Ted Mink," McCasky said. "We all ran knowing we had term limits. If term limit extension is appropriate for one elected official, it's appropriate for all."...

...After the meeting, McCasky said voters should be able to decide about extending term limits in "one fell swoop" for all elected officials, and that he's not backing down from his position. He said he'd support a ballot question that has three questions on extending term limits: one for the district attorney, one for the commissioners, and one for the rest of the elected officials. As of right now, many of the elected officials don't want their offices listed on a ballot question to extend term limits, McCasky said.

Colorado voters established term limits for all local elected offices by approving Amendment 17 in 1994. Since then, 53 counties have successfully removed or extended term limits for one or more offices, according to Colorado Counties Inc., a lobbying group. All term limits remain in place for Jeffco officials.

Storey, Mink Want Three Terms

by: Jeffco Pols

Mon Mar 23, 2009 at 11:13:14 AM MDT

For Jeffco District Attorney Scott Storey, eight is definitely not enough.

Term limits mean that Storey must leave office when his second four-year term ends in 2012, but he's determined to stick around. And so, he will soon propose to the county commissioners that the limits be extended to let him seek another term.

"As it applies to the DA, and as it applies to those offices that are not necessarily policy-makers but have a specialty attached to them - like the sheriff, for example - I felt like eight years is not enough," Storey said.

He has broached the subject with the commissioners and County Attorney Ellen Wakeman. Wakeman would have to prepare a resolution for the commissioners to put the proposal on the November ballot in Jefferson County...

Sheriff Ted Mink has expressed interest in the idea but so far hasn't asked the commissioners to approve a resolution. He gave several reasons why he would favor adding another term.

"There are a lot of people out there reluctant to run for office because of term limits," Mink said. "They could be out of a job in eight years, and they're not financially in the position to do that. The system leaves it to people in the back side of their career to run for office in these positions."

Mink agrees with Storey, saying the first four years are spent "getting comfortable and knowledgeable" about the office. If voters in the county don't like the job the sheriff or any other elected official is doing, "they can vote them out," Mink said. "If it's that glaring to the public that the (elected official) isn't fulfilling the contract with the voters, they can vote them out."

Three terms?

by: convinceme

Sun Mar 22, 2009 at 12:43:42 PM MDT