Published in the Baltimore Sun 9/9/2022
Baltimore City voters should vote “Against” Question K, the proposed amendment to the City Charter that would limit city officials to two terms in office.
History has shown that Baltimore’s best leaders serve more than two terms. I am 80 years old; and the most effective Baltimore mayors of my lifetime — Thomas D’Alesandro Jr., William Donald Schaefer, and Kurt Schmoke — all served more than two terms. Each of them had dramatic long-term impacts that positively reshaped Baltimore City with projects that took years to conceive and accomplish.
Several long-term City Council members have also made major contributions to our city, including Mary Pat Clarke, who was a member or president of the City Council for more than 30 years. As she said in The Sun recently, “I think voting is the best term limit. They’ll keep you or they’ll cut you out the next time around, if you’re not doing a good job. A lot of things take some time.” ...
Read the complete commentary in The Baltimore Sun.
Larry Gibson is the Morton & Sophia Macht Professor of Law at the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law.