Rep. David Jolly looking out for #1

Newly-minted U.S. Rep David Jolly is no citizen legislator, even if he is a freshman. He served on the staff of veteran porker Rep. C.W. "Bill" Young and then worked as a lobbyist in Washington before winning the special election for Young's seat this year.

His pedigree reeks of a wannabe professional politician and indeed opponents pressed this theme. As you can see in this campaign ad, at right, they predicted we would oppose changing Congress as a longtime beneficiary of the system.

The critics were right. Although polling suggests that some three-quarters of Southwest Florida voters support term limits, Jolly has made it clear he intends to put his career first.

At a debate in February of this year, Jolly was asked if he supports term limits:

"I don't. The only term limit you need is an election. If I don't deliver, then throw me out."

Yeah, right.

He's been around the block long enough to know that incumbent Congress members running for their own seat win about 94 percent of the time. Once you are in, you're in. And the special interest money starts to flow automatically into the incumbents' coffers to defend their position. Because of the unlikelihood of victory, incumbents can depend on nominal opposition -- or even no opponent at all.

That is why we need term limits and why David Jolly opposes them.