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Public service was never meant to be a career

I read with dismay that Mike Molina and Joe Pontanilla intend to run for the Maui County Council (The Maui News, Nov. 30). Now, don’t get me wrong, I think both of these men are quite wonderful and their 10 years on the County Council were highly productive, but elected public service was never meant to be a career.

Public service is an opportunity to pause from one’s vocation and give back to the community. The professionalization of political public service is the one of the greatest detriments to our democracy.

I do not want to cast aspersions on those fine people who have sought re-election after having spelled themselves from term limits, but what do we have term limits for?

Ten years is enough. Only nine people get to represent 153,000 at any given time. Term limits were created to prevent the concentration of power and the limitation of new voices from coming to the fore. We need to amend term limits to prevent anyone from resting a couple of years and coming back.

Paul Janes-Brown

Makawao

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