Alan Greenblatt is a GOVERNING correspondent.
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Incumbent Protection Plan
It's hard for me to believe that anybody who watches government closely in California could favor term limits, which have had a particularly debilitating effect on that state's legislature. But columnist Chip Johnson of the San Francisco Chronicle was made a believer by last week's incumbent sweep in Oakland city council races.
The virtual lock on local politics created by the city's long-standing district election process has created a self-serving system heavily weighted with resources to help the incumbents hold the council seats until they're ready to leave.
Never mind that Oakland's charter calls for a citizen council, Oakland government is made up of professional politicians whose full-time job is serving in office. They are given staffs and discretionary budgets of $250,000 that they regularly use to fund pet projects and consolidate their relationship with neighborhood leaders.
GOVERNING Politics is the place for news and analysis on campaigns and elections. If there's a ballot measure in California, a legislative election in Alabama, a mayoral election in Anchorage or a governor's race in Rhode Island, GOVERNING Politics probably is writing about it. We love everything about state and local politics, from polls and campaign ads to policy debates and demographic trends.
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