FAQ Term Limits How will TermͲLimits work? Elected officials will be limited to two or three consecutive elected terms. After two or three consecutive terms in office, the candidate will either have to run for a different office or sit out and election cycle before running again for the same office. How do TermͲLimits benefit the voters of Naperville? Term limits encourage more participation from the citizens in their city government by encouraging others to step up and offer their skills to help govern and run their city. Term Limits lower the barrier to entry. During the time they are in office, incumbents enjoy the benefit of a public platform that provides the equivalent of years of free political advertising. Senior officials have had opportunities to make speeches, take public positions, hold press conferences, appear on radio or television, participate in ceremonies like school openings, and otherwise be in the news and public eye. To compete at all, challengers have to overcome that inherent edge with enormous amounts of paid political advertising. Not surprisingly, this creates a huge entry barrier. And that entry barrier keeps a lot of desirable challengers out. Term limits lower entry barriers by reducing the years of effectively free political advertising an incumbent can enjoy. That in turn encourages additional challengers, thus benefiting the political system in two ways: (1) by better defining the issues of the day and (2) by providing new ballot options the voters often prefer to the incumbent. Some of the additional challengers are in fact politicians termed out of other offices, which makes elections far more competitive by creating a race between two politicians who have had the advantage of a public platform.
2/5/2010
19
FAQ Term Limits (Cont) Do term limits result in an undesirable loss of experience? Potentially; however, A new person in office will bring a different view to the topics at hand which may be more beneficial. What if there is someone really good in office we would like to keep? A well respected and effective representative can move from a different office to an atͲlarge office and back again. How can I find out more? I need a web site address here. What other locations in the area have term limits on their officials? Need to identify
2/5/2010
20
35 of 68