For immediate release
January 17, 2018
Contact: Stacey Selleck, U.S. Term Limits
U.S. Term Limits Praises Terry Power for Signing Its Term Limits Pledge
St. Petersburg, FL – U.S. Term Limits (USTL), the leader in the national movement to limit terms for elected officials, praises Terrance Power, candidate for Florida House District 64, for signing its term limits pledge. In addition, USTL commends Power for challenging incumbent term limits cheat, State Rep. Jamie Grant, who was first elected to the State House in 2010. Although the Florida Constitution term limits state legislators and cabinet members to eight consecutive years, Grant claims he is eligible to serve through 2024 (a total of 14 years). This egregious violation of the eight-year term limits is an affront to the 77 percent of Florida voters who supported the resource intensive citizens’ ballot initiative in 1992.
An irregularity in Grant’s 2014 reelection vacated his seat for a mere 155 days, most of which the Florida legislature was out of session. Although the Florida Constitution states that a term limited incumbent must sit out two years before running for reelection, Grant claims he did not hold office for eight consecutive years because of the legal hiccough due to an incorrect disqualification of a write-in challenger that held up the election. Grant ultimately won his reelection bid.
“Excuses like Grant’s put him in the company of Hugo Chavez and other abusers of power who run afoul of their term limits,” said USTL President, Philip Blumel, a resident of Florida. “When millions of Floridians created and passed ‘Eight is Enough,’ we intended for rotation every eight years.” Blumel continued, “The majority of people have rejected the career politician model and want to replace it with citizen leadership, Terry Power, knows this and is willing to pledge his commitment to maintaining our current term limits in Florida.”
Fortunately, Grant is facing consequences for thumbing his nose at voters. In June 2017, a citizens’ term limits revolt sunk his campaign for House speaker; in November, businessman Terry Power announced a primary challenge against Grant. While Power is a strong contender, should Grant ultimately win the election and attempt to take office beyond the term limits set in the Florida Constitution, it is likely a costly taxpayer funded court battle to unseat him will ensue.
Power, a term limits advocate, signed the USTL pledge that states, “I pledge to take no action that would aid or abet the abolition or lengthening of term limits to which elected officials in Florida are subject.” This pledge is of particular importance since the Florida legislature regularly attempts to lengthen their own terms in office.
According to the last nationwide poll on term limits conducted by Gallup, term limits enjoys wide bipartisan support. The results demonstrate that 75% of Americans support congressional term limits. Gallup’s analysis states, “Republicans and Independents are slightly more likely than Democrats to favor term limits; nevertheless, the vast majority of all party groups agree on the issue. Further, Gallup finds no generational differences in support for the proposal.”
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U.S. Term Limits is the largest, national grassroots firm advocating for term limits on all elected officials. Based in Melbourne, Florida, it has staff in Orlando, Palm Beach, Tampa and St. Petersburg, as well as in key battleground states across the country.