A Republican attorney, a nonpartisan businessman and a politician who is a Democrat are heading the Fair Elections Lincoln committee that will oppose the term-limits proposal on the November ballot.
Lincoln voters will be asked to approve a retroactive three-term limit for the Lincoln mayor position, which will preclude current Mayor Chris Beutler from seeking a fourth term as he has announced.
All three chairs of the committee focused on fairness and fair play and said the term-limits proposal, because it is retroactive, is intended as a Republican partisan effort to keep Beutler, a Democrat, from running for re-election.
Fair Elections Lincoln will be raising and spending money to defeat the proposal, which was placed on the ballot after a successful petition drive, organized by three Republican leaders.Ìý
Robert Duncan, chairman emeritus of Duncan Aviation, said he supports term limits philosophically, but he strongly opposes this ballot issue because it “appears to have been designed to disqualify the mayor.â€
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A fair proposal would have not been retroactive and would have included City Council members as well, said Duncan, who is registered as nonpartisan.
Steve Seglin, a Lincoln attorney and registered Republican, said the ballot issue involves fundamental fairness in the election process.
The notion of fair play is too often ignored in today’s politics. "Winning at all costs seems to be the goal of some politicians,†he said.
Voters of the city won’t be fooled by this unfair tactic, which is clearly aimed at Beutler, and was launched only after he declared he would run for another term, Seglin said.
“This is an effort to change the rules in the middle of the game,†said state Sen. Kate Bolz, a Democrat.
Term limits should not be used by a political party to unfairly target someone when an election is already underway, she said.
Beutler said he's hearing similar fairness sentiments from other Lincolnites. “Some support term limits; some don’t. Some support my re-election and some have never ever voted for me."
But they are committed to fair play and they do not believe the concept of term limits should be hijacked by a party and used for partisan purposes, Beutler said during a news conference about the formation of Fair Elections Lincoln.
The group, already registered with the state’s Accountability and Disclosure Commission, will raise money and campaign against the term-limits proposal through a combination of volunteer efforts, direct mail efforts and other advertising, Beutler said.
Beutler's re-election campaign will also be working with the group, the mayor said. Brandon Bayer, Beutler's campaign manager, is listed as treasurer of the Fair Elections Lincoln committee.Ìý
Those who support mayoral term limits will also have a campaign to encourage support before the Nov. 6 election, said Matt Innis, a spokesman for the petition drive campaign.
That will likely include support from the national term-limits association, he said.Ìý