Mar 9, 2021
Sen. Ryan Weld is absolutely right that West Virginia needs to get into the business of good governance. A measure the Republican from Brooke County is sponsoring to limit the number of terms the state’s constitutional officers can hold office — Senate Joint Resolution 11 — is a solid step in that direction.
The constitutional offices — secretary of state, auditor, treasurer, attorney general and agriculture — currently have no limits on the number of terms an elected representative can serve. This has led to decades-long bureaucratic tenures for some of those holding these offices.
Weld seeks to change that. The joint resolution calls for a constitutional officeholder to serve no more than three consecutive terms — 12 years. It also would apply retroactively to those constitutional officers currently in office — Treasurer Riley Moore (first term), Auditor J.B. McCuskey, Secretary of State Mac Warner, Agriculture Commissioner Kent Leonhardt (all in their second term) and Attorney General Patrick Morrisey (in his third term). That means, if approved, Morrisey would be in his final term as attorney general.