"It's over."
Those were the words of veteran Broward County Commissioner John Rodstrom after he learned of this morning's bombshell appellate ruling that reinstated term limits in Broward County. The ruling is shaking up the political landscape of Broward County -- one effect is that Rodstrom, who had already begun planning his reelection campaign after 20 years on the commission, will be out of office in November 2012.
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In 2000, Broward voters overwhelmingly passed by voters to impose term limits on county commissioners. Rodstrom publicly supported the referendum at the time. But when that same referendum put on his $92,000-a-year commission job on the chopping block in 2012, he turned against the term limits and a longtime political friend and supporter, high-powered Fort Lauderdale attorney Bill Scherer, filed the lawsuit claiming the term limits were unconstitutional.
Then Broward County Circuit Judge Carol-Lisa Phillips, the wife of former Fort Lauderdale Mayor Jim Naugle, ruled on Scherer's side, striking down the term limits as unconstitutional and single-handedly overturning the voters' will.
This morning, the Fourth District Court of Appeals reversed the local judge's ruling and reinstated term limits in Broward County. Rodstrom said there will be no appeal to the Florida Supreme Court. He said the appellate ruling effectively ends Scherer's lawsuit, along with his own commission career.
"I'm going to retire," Rodstrom told me after the ruling was handed down. "The court has spoken. The voters have spoken. It's over."
Another county commissioner who will be calling it quits is Ilene Lieberman. She had been hinting recently that she would run again if the circuit court ruling stood. That opens up Sunrise Commissioner Sheila Alu to run for that seat, a move she has said she would make should Lieberman not run. I contacted Alu, who said, "I think I might run."
Click here to read the ruling, which essentially holds that county commissioners aren't state constitutional officers and are therefore subject to term limits.
UPDATE: Well maybe this isn't over. While Rodstrom said it was, the lawyer who filed the lawsuit, Bill Scherer, has told the Sun-Sentinel he's taking it to the Florida Supreme Court. It's certainly a peculiar pursuit for both Scherer and Nova law professor Bruce Rogow, who is assisting him in the crusade to overturn the will of the people of Broward County.