Will Kauai Eliminate Term Limits for Elected Officials?

The County Council is considering a 2016 ballot question asking if council members should be able to serve more than four consecutive two-year terms.

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Will Kauai allow Council members to serve indefinitely, should voters continue to return them to office?

And what about the Garden Island’s mayor, too?

The Kauai County Council is considering placing a question on next year’s ballot that could end term limits for council members, which were capped in 2006 to four consecutive two-year terms.

Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell, along with Kauai Mayor Barnard Carvalho, Hawaii County Mayor Billy Kenoi and Maui Mayor Alan Arakawa, speaks at news conference in front of Honolulu Hale to give their reaction to a federal court decision that struck down a Kauai County ordinance that requires biotechnology companies to disclose their cultivation of genetically modified crops and use of restricted pesticides. August 25, 2014

The term-limited mayors of Hawaii, circa 2015.

PF Bentley/Civil Beat

Mayor Bernard Carvalho Jr., The Garden Island reports, is now saying he’d like to have voters decide whether to allow mayors to run for a third consecutive four-year term, too.

“For me, it’s all about the people. Let them decide,” Carvalho said.

Maui, Honolulu and Hawaii counties also have term limits for county officials. Same goes for governor and lieutenant governor.

That stands in contrast to members of the Hawaii State Legislature and U.S. Congress, who do not have term limits.

Why the double standard, eh?

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