Term limits shake up County Commission, Legislature lineups

The Brevard County Commission and the local delegation to the Florida Legislature will undergo major makeovers in this year's elections, as most of the sitting commissioners and legislators will be moving out because of term limits.

But that's not to say they all will be out of public office altogether, because most of those affected are seeking other offices.

Here's how things are shaking out for local incumbents who have served in their current jobs for eight years, and can't seek re-election due to term limits:

• Florida Senate President Andy Gardiner, R-Orlando, isn't seeking elected office this year. Sen. Thad Altman, R-Indialantic, is running for a Florida House seat.
• Florida House Speaker Steve Crisafulli, R-Merritt Island, isn't seeking elected office this year. Rep. Ritch Workman, R-Melbourne, and Rep. Debbie Mayfield, R-Rockledge, are running for Altman's Senate seat. Rep. John Tobia, R-Palm Bay, is running for Brevard County Commission. 
• Brevard County Commissioner Robin Fisher, D-Titusville, and Commissioner Andy Anderson, R-Palm Bay, aren't seeking elected office. Commissioner Trudie Infantini, R-West Melbourne, is running for Brevard County clerk of courts

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Among the local state legislators, only District 50 Florida Rep. Tom Goodson is not facing term limits. However, Goodson is running in a different district this year — the District 51 seat now held by Crisafulli — in an attempt to win his fourth two-year term in the House.

And among county commissioners, Chairman Jim Barfield in District 2 and Vice Chairman Curt Smith in District 4 are completing the second year of their first four-year terms, and are not up for election this year.

Term limit supporters say they have no issue with the turnover among state legislators and county commissioners this year.

Bob White, chairman of both the Republican Liberty Caucus of Florida and the Republican Liberty Caucus of Central East Florida, said term limits prevent elected officials from "becoming entrenched."

The openings created by term limits help the process of having more "citizen legislators," instead of career politicians, White said.

"I think that we have a great opportunity to make changes in the state Legislature and County Commission" in this year's election, with relatively few incumbents seeking re-election to their current offices, White said.

He said, even with three of the five county commissioners being brand-new after the November election, he's not concerned.

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He said there are "very solid, smart" candidates running for both the County Commission and Florida Legislature seats.

Altman, who was a Florida House member for 5½ years, before being elected to the Florida Senate in 2008, is not an advocate of term limits.

"I think term limits are bad for the process," Altman said. "I philosophically am not a fan of term limits. You're truly limiting the power of the people" by not giving voters the option of re-electing a sitting legislator or county commissioner who has served for eight years.

"Let the people vote and decide," Altman said.

Altman contends that term limits have backfired by giving more power to "lobbyists and special interests" because of the turnover of legislators after two, four-year terms in the Florida Senate or four, two-year terms in the Florida House.

"Once you understand the legislative process," and the complexities of the state budget, "you're termed out," Altman said.

"People start thinking about the next level almost right away after the get elected — about running for higher office, about raising money to run for higher office," Altman said.

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'Popular with voters'

Christopher Muro, an assistant professor of political science and chair of the liberal arts department at Eastern Florida State College, said term limits are "extremely popular with voters."

Nationwide, voter referendums to establish term limits have had a 98 percent rate of passage, Muro said.

Muro said he personally has "always been an advocate of term limits."

Term limits were adopted for the Florida Legislature in 1992, but it was not retroactive, so the first legislators affected were termed out of office eight years later, in 2000. That's when Muro made his only run for public office — a six-person Republican primary for an open, term-limited Florida House seat within Brevard, in which Muro finished fourth.

Despite his support for term limits, Muro said, at least in Florida, "It hasn't been the silver bullet that it was purported to be. I'm not sure term limits have lived up to their promise" for such things as making legislative elections more competitive and "weaning off special-interest money" in election campaigns.

"I'd give it a C-plus, if I had to give it a grade," Muro said.

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Muro said "the effect can be much more dramatic" in a local legislative body, such as the five-member Brevard County Commission, as opposed to a large government body, such as the 120-member Florida House or the 40-member Florida Senate.

Altman's campaign this year to be elected to the Florida House after already service 5½ years there and eighth years in the Florida Senate has created a bit of a stir. Three Republican candidates have challenged Altman in a Republican primary.

White said he believes such a move "violates the spirit of the law," since, if Altman is elected, the term limit clock would start at zero, and Altman could serve eight more years in the House if he continues to be re-elected.

"I've got a big problem with that," White said.

In discussing Altman's shift back to a House race, Muro said it it doesn't violate the letter of the law for two reasons — Altman didn't serve a full eight years in the House and Altman was not a House member for at least two years before running for the House again.

But Muro said some, like White and Muro himself, believe it violates the spirit of the law.

"We'll see what the voters have to say about it," Muro said.

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Congressional limit pushed

Suntree resident Nick Tomboulides is leading an effort to establish term limits for members of Congress, which he said public opinion surveys show is "overwhelming supported by the American people."

Tomboulides, executive director of U.S. Term Limits, says without term limits, elected officials become "too entrenched and too powerful. Term limits are a way to make elections more competitive and get new ideas and to fight corruption."

In the early 1990s, voters in Florida and 22 other states approved state constitutional amendments or state statutes adding term limits for the members of Congress from their states — two terms of six years for senators and either three or four terms of two years for House members.

But the U.S. Supreme Court in 1995 declared those laws unconstitutional, so U.S. Term Limits now is pushing term limits as an amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

Tomboulides' organization is beginning a process under which the state legislatures of 34 states would have to pass resolutions calling for a special convention to consider adding an amendment to the U.S. Constitution calling for term limits for Congress. Florida this year became the first state to pass such a resolution.

If 34 states approved, the participants at the convention would write the proposed constitutional amendment, which would have to ratified by 38 states to take effect.

White said he would like to see term limits expanded, through other processes, to also include federal and state judges, even city and town council members.

Contact Berman at 321-242-3649 or dberman@floridatoday.com. Follow him on Twitter @ByDaveBerman and on Facebook at facebook.com/dave.berman.54

Port adds term limits

The Canaveral Port Authority charter was revised in 2014 to include term limits. The limit is three consecutive four-year terms, and tenure on the five-member port commission before then doesn't count in computing the limit. So the earliest term limits would come into play there would be 2026.

What about charter officers?

In May, Brevard County Commission Vice Chair Curt Smith proposed that the County Commission consider some type of term limits for the Brevard's five charter officers — clerk of courts, property appraiser, sheriff, supervisor of elections and tax collector. At the time, he said he would like to see the current officeholders in those five jobs exempted from the term limits

The County Commission has not had further discussion on the issue, and Smith said he has dropped the idea because he believes the nature of those positions is more administrative, rather than policymaking.

Creating term limits for those five positions — also known as constitutional officers — would have been a two-step process. First, four of the five county commissioners would have to vote to put a charter amendment proposal on the ballot. Then a majority of voters would have to support it.

Getting out of politics — maybe

Brevard County Commissioner Robin Fisher said he has no problems with term limits, as he completes his second four-year term as a county commissioner.

"I believe eight years is enough, if you work hard and you're doing it for the public service," Fisher said. 

Fisher said he is confident in the returning commissioners, Jim Barfield and Curt Smith, as they already have shown leadership and chairman and vice chairman, this year. He also noted that some of the candidates for the open seats also have legislative experience at the state or municipal level.

Fisher said he has no specific plans to seek elective office in the future, and no interest in becoming a member of Congress or state legislator. But he left open the possibility that he may be interested in a position as a Canaveral Port Authority commissioner in the future.

"You never say never," said Fisher, who previously served as a city council member in Palm Bay and Titusville.