Constitutionality aside, the five year requirement is bad policy, too. The law operates much like a protective tariff -- it insulates incumbent politicians and the city's veteran political class from job competition. Now more than ever, New Orleans would benefit from an expanded candidacy pool. With a long list of Katrina-related problems still lingering four years after the storm, not to mention a longer list of yet-to-be-solved pre-Katrina issues, the city needs the widest possible selection of fresh, new candidates, not more of the same choices.
Immediate reactions:
1) I wonder if D.C lawyer David Weiss was among the native New Orleanians whining about their "embarrassment" at the long list of candidates for mayor in 2006. Obviously there's no written record available but it's a bet I'd be willing to take.
2) I wonder what D.C. lawyer David Weiss thinks of term limits. Does he think that they also constitute an arbitrary restriction on the "expanded candidacy pool" we appear to so desperately need? I'll bet he doesn't!
3) I wonder who (besides possibly D.C. lawyer David Weiss) D.C. lawyer David Weiss has in mind as a potential improvement upon the 5-year resident candidates currently eligible. Brad Pitt? Stormy Daniels? Ed Blakely? I really can't wait to find out more about these exciting leaders from afar who might rescue us if only they are allowed to do so.
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