Monday, November 15, 2010

El Paso voters wake up to term limits swindle


Busted!

It appears many El Paso voters woke up surprised that they had voted to weaken their 8-year term limits law to a 12-year limit. Now there is a move afoot to reexamine that vote, in light of the fact that El Paso County appears to be the only place in America where term limits lost on Nov. 2.

Commissioner-elect Darryl Glenn told the Colorado Springs Gazette he plans to hold a public meeting in January to determine if the voters were fooled by the deceptive language of the referendum.

As reported earlier here, the El Paso politicians used a common titling and language trick that led voters to believe they were limiting terms, when in fact they were weakening them. County politicians acknowledged to the Colorado Springs Independent that they had chosen their wording "strategically." Then, after the ruse had come fully to light, they dug themselves a deeper hole by admitting to the Gazette they copied the scheme from other counties.

In other words, instead of using simple language explaining that a yes vote would lengthen the existing term limits from two to three terms (eight to 12 years), the politicians admit they sought out deceptive language that "worked" elsewhere.

Well, it did work. So far...