Utah Capitol in Salt Lake Metropolis is pictured on Sunday, Sept. 11, 2022. Scott G Winterton, Deseret Information
Holding elected workplace needs to be an act of service, not a profession.
Voters in Salt Lake County will resolve in November whether or not to reelect an at-large county council member, which might imply his holding that seat for at the very least 18 years.
The purpose of being elected to workplace shouldn't be to attempt to function lengthy as doable, however somewhat to function effectively as doable, which is why if I’m elected as an alternative, I pledge to serve solely two phrases on the Council earlier than making means for a brand new voice with new concepts and renewed vitality to serve the folks of Salt Lake County.
Salt Lake County residents are fighting actual challenges proper now and wish representatives that really feel adequate urgency to behave. Even earlier than inflation spiraled uncontrolled and fuel costs skyrocketed, housing costs within the county have been uncontrolled. A value of dwelling disaster has gripped Salt Lake County and the present Council has appeared content material to take a seat again and let residents wrestle by means of it on their very own.
With out extra political strain to behave with urgency, it appears there’s not sufficient incentive to attempt to assist.
Time period limits would change the paradigm and make it the purpose of being elected to perform as a lot as doable as rapidly as doable.
Time period limits on the Salt Lake County Council would additionally guarantee new views pressure council members to be extra attentive to the day-to-day challenges our residents face, whereas giving new voices with new concepts extra alternatives to serve.
So much has modified within the 12 years since my opponent was first elected to an at-large seat on the County Council. Again then, the median value for a single-family residence in Salt Lake County was simply $220,000. In August it was a staggering $601,000.
Housing isn’t the one a part of the price of dwelling right here, in fact. Transportation, meals, utilities, well being care, little one care and taxes all contribute to the financial burden of dwelling in Salt Lake County and all are alternatives for the County Council to assist.
Not solely would time period limits create strain on council 0members to interact, and make sure the Council higher resembles the constituency it represents, however they might diversify the coverage concepts it considers.
Conservative columnist David Brooks made an astute commentary in a column this summer time acknowledging that he’s been incorrect about quite a lot of issues all through his profession as a result of the lens by means of which he noticed the world saved rising antiquated. “I fall behind,” he wrote. “I’m attempting to handle one interval’s issues by means of the final interval’s frameworks.”
It’s one thing we’re all responsible of and it’s why it’s so essential to stop entrenchment in elected workplaces. In some unspecified time in the future, the expertise of holding the identical workplace for too lengthy turns into a legal responsibility, limiting the attitude utilized to addressing fashionable issues.
Our politics want new leaders now greater than ever and the most important hurdle to that's the unbelievable energy of incumbency. The reelection price in Congress is over 90%, which is among the massive the reason why time period limits have such broad bipartisan assist.
A survey performed by Scott Rasmussen final fall discovered that 82% of People assist time period limits on Congress, together with 87% of Republicans, 83% of Democrats, and 78% of independents.
A 2016 ballot of Utahns discovered assist for Congressional time period limits at 88%, and time period limits on governors, attorneys basic and members of the state legislature at 85%. The Utah Legislature even handed a legislation in 1990 imposing time period limits on its Congressional delegation, although the Supreme Court docket rendered it and different states’ comparable legal guidelines moot 5 years later.
I’m not a profession politician — I’m a medical physician. Serving the general public is my life’s work, and I’m operating for the Salt Lake County Council to attempt to assist. That features stepping apart after two phrases to make means for a brand new perspective.
Suzanne Harrison represents Sandy and Draper within the State Legislature and is operating for at-large seat B on the Salt Lake County Council.