Term-Limit Vote Nixed As Thaxton Soldiers On

“It’s up to the lawyers and the courts,” said County Commissioner Jon Thaxton Tuesday afternoon. It was the day after a circuit court judge ruled a county-inspired referendum on term limits was unacceptable.

“It was the right thing to do, but for the wrong reasons,” Thaxton said, speaking of the referendum. He was the commissioner who asked the board to stop the referendum. The other four commissioners agreed without a formal vote.

That aside, Jon Thaxton is running until the Sarasota County supervisor of elections tells him he’s disqualified. “I will run until my candidacy is declared invalid,” he told Patch.

He spoke after the Sarasota County Commission decided to cancel a in January that would allow Thaxton to run for a fourth term. 

On Monday Circuit Judge Jack Schoonover ruled the The deadline to provide the ballot question was Tuesday at 5 p.m. An hour before deadline, the county commission by concensus decided to drop the idea.

The issue is a labyrinth, with twists and turns in every legal direction. In 1998 Sarasota County voters by a two-to-one margin approved a two-term limit on county commissioners. But the vote was nullified by a circuit judge, who ruled the referendum question unconstitutional. Should prior election success disqualify a candidate from running again and again? The local judge said “no.”

The Florida Fourth District Court of Appeals in August answered the question with a “yes,” ruling term limits were legal and constitutional for county government. But that court does not preside over Sarasota. 

Florida voters decided the term-limit question for Florida legislators in 1992, amending the state constutiton by a 77 percent approval rating. It made 55 representatives and 11 state senators ineligible to run for re-election in the year 2000.