A petition to get Mayor Term Limits on the Ballot

Posted By: Pierce Georlett

pgeorlett@klkntv.com

Yesterday afternoon some notable Republican Party members are beginning to petition for term limits to the mayor.

J.L. Spray and a couple of others have officially started a petition, to have the issue of terms limits for the Lincoln Mayor on the upcoming ballot.

"I think the people ought to have the opportunity to decide whether 12 years is long enough for one person to accomplish their goals as an elected official, and we need term limits. We have term limits for the President, we have term limits for the Governor, the executive of Lincoln is the Mayor and I think people have a feeling that we should have term limits for the mayor too," says J.L. Spray. 

Mayor Beutler is seeking his 4th term as Mayor of Lincoln in the 2019 election.

His campaign says the timing of this petition creates an unfair advantage towards the Republican candidate.

"This is completely out of left field. It’s not the issue of whether we should be having the conversation about term limits it’s the timing of it. It’s 6 months before the election when this would take affect, and it’s disqualifying one individual getting their candidate an unfair advantage," said Brandon Bayer the campaign manger for Beutler. 

Beutler’s campaign also feels the timing of the particularly issue is suspicious.

"We’re not saying that there should be conversation around this but you can’t do it months before an election. If they want to bring this question up next May in 2020 it doesn’t matter we welcome that conversation, but right now it gives their candidate an unfair advantage," added Bayer. 

For J.L. Spray this is not a personal attack towards Mayor Beutler, he says it’s an issue that many other voters have.

"It’s part of the issue with the mayor, is everything is personal to him and everything is political. Including the operations in the city of Lincoln and I think it’s time that the voters have a chance to consider whether somebody who’s had that job for 12 years should move a long an do something else," said Spray. 

In order to get this issue on the mid term ballot they need to get more than 3,000 valid signatures.