My View on Term Limits
Hello everyone. I hope you are having a great week. I’ve been extremely busy the last few weeks knocking on doors, working for you in Columbia, running my business and trying to spend a little time with the family. Finding time to sleep has become difficult, but that’s okay. I truly love serving you in the State House.
Last week I got a questionnaire from the Upstate Tea Party folks asking me my view on term limits. Like them, I believe whole-heartedly in transparency, so I want to tell you exactly how I feel about the subject.
I believe that part of the problem with both Washington and Columbia is the seniority system. Basing leadership on the number of years in a legislative body is a recipe for disaster. Special interests dominate the system and that breeds corruption, good ole boy politics and a tax-and-spend mentality.
I support term limits legislation because it will clean up the system.
However, I will not term limit myself without every other legislator doing so also. Here’s why: right now the upstate is at a massive disadvantage. Besides Senate Majority Leader Harvey Peeler in Gaffney, the upstate has virtually no leadership. All the big decision makers are from Charleston, the Pee Dee, and the Midlands. We have lost all our leadership positions and now the upstate is being terribly ignored when it comes to the economic development projects that create jobs.
I supported the Boeing project because it will help many upstate suppliers, but we have to start recruiting those type industries here in Spartanburg County, too. That won’t happen if we term limit ourselves and let Charleston soak up more and more power. They already have the three most powerful men in South Carolina – the Governor, the Speaker of the House, and the President Pro Tempore of the Senate.
Until we fix this broken seniority system, upstate residents must band together and elect leaders who can bring jobs to our area. As your Representative, my top priority will remain economic growth in the upstate.
Your Representative,
Keith Kelly
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