Democracy needs choice

Written by Jon Mendelson
Friday, 08 August 2008

The Delta College trustees might make term limits sound like a good idea, but columnist Jon Mendelson says the real solution is much more simple.

It took long enough, but the San Joaquin Delta College trustees — including Tracy trustee Greg McCreary — will face challengers in the November election.

At long last, democracy is being served in school.

Democracy, you see, requires choice. And for far too long, voters had no choice when it came to electing the Delta College board.

Since the year George W. Bush first ran for president, only four people over four elections have challenged the seven elected directors of the county’s most-used school. So the incumbents were often merely appointed. No need to waste an election if there’s nobody running.

At the time, it seemed like no big deal. In retrospect, it turned out to be huge.

As voters were deprived — or deprived themselves — of electoral choices, the powers that be entrenched themselves at Delta, and the results are easy to read.

According to the San Joaquin Civil Grand Jury, the long-tenured board members frittered away huge chunks of a $250 million taxpayer bond.

As if that weren’t enough, the grand jury also said certain board members were found to have violated the Brown Act, passing along closed-door information to those who stood to win or lose big from the board’s decision.

Hence the money quote in the jury’s report: "The grand jury has no confidence in the Delta College Board of Trustees as they are currently constituted. The district needs capable trustees who are able to meet the task of bringing Delta College into the 21st century."

In other words: Vote the bums out.

Since that mandate, plenty of campaigners have filed papers for the upcoming election. It would have been better if we’d had the flood of challengers before the money was wasted and law flouted, but we’ll take what we can get.

Still, it’s disappointing that it took a scandal to rock the board’s boat.

Isn’t there a better way? A way to cycle rascals out of office despite public apathy?

Some would say term limits are exactly the answer this case points to. The same some, no doubt, have hoisted a City Council term limits initiative onto Tracy’s fall ballot.

They say that our council members and mayor, not unlike the Delta trustees, have sat for too many Tuesdays on the dais. Limiting council terms is the best way to end the reign of poor decision-making.

The initiative’s supporters won’t get much argument that the past’s haphazard planning has led to a mess in Tracy. It’s also true that several council members have served several terms and are responsible, to varying degrees, for that planning.

Unlike the Delta situation, however, these folks have been challenged. The long-term incumbents on the City Council — Brent Ives, Suzanne Tucker and Evelyn Tolbert — have all faced serious competition, and voters decided they were the best for the job more than once. And whether I — or anyone else — agrees with that overall decision is beside the point.

No doubt long flirtations with power tend to corrupt (read: Alaskan Sen. Ted Stevens and his oil industry buddies).

But voters can remedy that.

We have the chance with the Delta board this fall to weed out the incompetent and retain the dedicated, and we’ll have the same chance with the City Council.

It’s true that term limits make sure charlatans have only so long to do their damage. Limits also arbitrarily kick out dedicated public servants, and legislative bodies lose expertise and strong working relationships.

Limits just aren’t as smart as an engaged, informed citizenry.

The quick stop-gap fix offered by term limits is a tempting siren’s song, but they don’t address the underlying problems of influence peddling, corruption and money. They only treat certain symptoms.

The real solution, as it always has been, is simple:

Vote the bums out.

Source