News-Record.com

Add to the Solutions to Problems that Don't Exist File: A proposal to expand the terms of Greensboro City Council members from two years to four.

These are not typically the most competitive races in the world anyway. Mayor Keith Holliday ran unopposed in the last election. So did Tom Phillips in District 3.

Nor has getting re-elected typically been all that hard. Sandy Carmany, who says she may support the idea of four-year terms, has held her seat since 1991, and won her most recent re-election over a challenger who barely campaigned. Yvonne Johnson has held her at-large seat since 1993.

In District 1, Earl Jones had served for 18 years until he was defeated in 2001.

Nor are these campaigns routinely all that expensive.

True, Sandra Anderson Groat spent $19,000 in the 2005 campaign. But that amount was more the exception than the rule. Also, it was her first bid for public office.

And it is true (as the general longevity of council members attests) that voters rarely have kicked the collective council to the curb.

The council has plenty on its plate without adding this nonissue.

If two-year terms are OK for Congress and the state House, they surely ought to be OK for the Greensboro City Council.

In fact, if any terms need changing, maybe it should be the Guilford County commissioners, from four years to two.