I wonder what a check of familial connections and personal associations of staff to clerk would reveal. Could anyone in any office for so long not tap into known and trusted associates? When objective qualifications among applicants for positions appear equal, one chooses trusted cronies. "I don't want nobody workin' for me if I don't have their pecker in my pocket," said Lyndon Johnson. While I'm not an advocate for term limits on elected positions, I understand why some people are. Term limits bring their own abuses such as the current move by the state house to extend continuing benefits to early-quitting legislators who move back to their municipalities to assume elected positions there. Skip term limits, but throw the bums out before their tentacles suffocate advancement and loot the coffers.