Give someone else a chance

The Kansas City Star reports that because of the recently defeated charter change a municipal judge will be forced to retire. The charter change would have raised the mandatory retirement age for municpal judges from 65 to 70. The judge in question, Marcia Walsh has served on the bench since 1983. Almost 25 years is a long time to do anything. I have no background on Judge Walsh other than her time of service. I'm sure she has been a fine judge. What I do know is the reason I voted against extending the retirement age has less to do with age and more to do with turnover. I think there should be more turnover on the bench. Bring in new judges, new ideas, new everything. As I said in an opinion piece I wrote for the kcmohotline, if term limits are good enough for the council, they should be good enough for judges. And if a mandatory retirement age is good enough for judges, maybe it should be good enough for the council? I saw a great saying, "Today's problems will not be solved by the minds that created them." I think it's time to give Generation X a chance to make our mark on Kansas City.