VOLuntarilyConservative

As those who live in and around Knox County know by now, the Tennessee Supreme Court's (correct) decision that term limit laws passed by the people of a county are constitutional has created turmoil on the county political scene. The drama will take several days to play out, but it looks like 12 county commissioners will be removed from the ballot. That much looks certain. Where we go from there, though, is anyone's guess. Will Sheriff Tim Hutchison be removed from the ballot? (My bet would be yes.) Will qualifying petitions be accepted after the already-passed deadline, and, if so, when is the new deadline with the election just over a month away?

Stay tuned on this one, because it has the potential for getting ugly. My personal belief is that term limits are silly. Congressman Jimmy Quillen, who seemingly served the 1st District in Congress for hundreds of years, used to say that he faced term limits every two years, because it was the people who imposed the limit of his term. That is correct, and it matches my view. One need look no further than Knox County for the dichotomy. Term limits were enacted in 1994. They voted for these commissioners since that time, meaning that they wanted them term limited but, since that didn't work, they decided to keep voting for them.

Yeah, this is going to be interesting...

Dave Oatney has an interesting read. In the Comments, he states that he may run for a vacant seat if given the chance. Go encourage him.