Broward County Commissioner John Rodstrom isn't ruling out a run for his County Commission seat in 2012.
Yes, of course Rodstrom is supposed to be term-limited out, but he's learned of court cases that support the idea that term limits instituted by Broward County voters -- and supported by Rodstrom himself -- in 2000 are unconstitutional in Florida. The idea is that since county commissioners are state officers, there would have to be an amendment in the state constitution to make them legal.
I'm digging into the legal argument, but Rodstrom said his friend Bill Scherer, a Broward attorney and powerbroker, sent a copy of a legal case out of Jacksonville to the Broward County Attorney's Office. He said he was told from the legal department that if someone challenged term limits, they would likely be
overturned by a court.
"They said they think whoever files it wins in the trial court and wins in the appellate court and they don't know what would happen if it went to the state Supreme Court," Rodstrom said.
I asked him if he really wanted to go against the obvious wishes of the voters to limit terms to 12 years. "Voters hate politicians," he said. "But I think term limits just make lobbyists stronger. It empowers the lobbyists because they are the only ones around long enough to know what is going on."
Hey, it's a cush job, paying about $94,000 for what is essentially a part-time job. And Rodstrom said he's confident the voters would see through their folly.
"Given a choice, they will pick and choose who they will have," Rodstrom said. "They want term limits for certain people, but they will vote for certain people time after time after time."
Yes, and Rodstrom seems to be one those people.
"I've been fortunate," he said.
