Denver voters will face just one ballot issue when they receive their voting materials for the mail-only municipal election set for May 1. The Post recommends a “yes” vote on issue 1A, which would set a limit of three consecutive terms in office for the Denver district attorney.
In urging that change, we are making no judgment on the performance of the current Denver DA, Mitch Morrissey, who was first elected in 2004 and who is eligible to run for a second term in 2008. But on principle, we would feel more comfortable if the proposed change kicked in after the present incumbent left office.
That is the tactic the Denver City Council adopted in 2000 when it asked voters to extend limits to three consecutive terms on all city offices except district attorney. That applied to officials elected for the first time in 2003 or later – leaving the existing two-term limit in place for everyone in city office at the time the change was recommended. That’s the clean way to do it because it makes it clear that voters are judging the concept of term limits, not the performance of any specific officeholder.
That caveat aside, we have often voiced our dislike for term limits in general, and we especially oppose putting limits on offices that require professional expertise, such as district attorney. In Denver’s case, the fact is that city officials considered including the office of district attorney on the 2000 ballot that switched all other city offices to a three-term limit – a year before Morrissey was first elected.
Ultimately, the district attorney was left out of the 2000 ballot issue because a pending lawsuit made it unclear whether local voters could change the term limits on what is technically a state office. A subsequent court decision made it clear that in the case of single-county judicial districts – namely, Denver and Pueblo – the voters of that county can indeed make such a change. (Multicounty judicial districts must vote on such a change in every affected county.) That’s why the City Council put issue 1A on the May 1 ballot.
Now that they have the chance to do so, we urge Denver voters to vote “yes” to allow Denver’s district attorney to serve three terms. It’s foolish to hamper our city’s fight against crime by repeatedly tossing out DAs just when their hard-won expertise is most effectively bearing fruit.
