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Water board should consider term limits, says columnist

Posted by: Maven on March 10, 2009 at 4:29 am

From the San Jose Mercury News, this column by Scott Herhold:

For a long time now, I’ve been convinced that the back sides of several members of the Santa Clara Valley Water District board are literally glued to their chairs. Flesh to wood, epoxy to cloth, pant leg to table leg.

I can’t explain their extraordinary longevity any other way. For the four senior members, the average tenure is more than 20 years.

Virtually everyone else in our political constellation has term limits — an eight-year term for San Jose council members, six years for assembly members, 12 years for county supervisors, 11 years or so for your dog. To the board members of the Golden Spigot, however, the notion of limiting service is as welcome as submitting to a barium enema.

Despite what they announced two weeks ago, the board today won’t vote on term limits. It’s been postponed until March 24. The stated reason is that they already have a package of good government measures on today’s agenda. Put another way, there’s just so much reform the board can take at any one time.

Before I explain, let me credit board members Patrick Kwok, Richard Santos and Rosemary Kamei, who, with prodding from Assemblyman Joe Coto, pushed the board two weeks ago to swallow what our reporter Paul Rogers described as a “castor oil” dose of reforms.

Read more of this column in the San Jose Mercury News by clicking here.

March 10, 2009 · Filed Under Bay Area, Water Agency News

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