By Jon Ralston

Mon, Jun 9, 2008 (2:01 a.m.)

Finally someone has dissected the most ridiculous argument being used by those who think term limits should not take effect until 2010: that forcing elected officials out of office this cycle would be applying the 1996-passed term limits retroactively, which is absurd. No matter how you feel about the affected officials, Dominic Gentile, representing County Commission contender Steve Sisolak, got it just right in his writ filed with the Supreme Court. If applied retroactively, Gentile wrote, Woodbury “arguably would not have been permitted to take office back in 1997” because he had been in office since 1981. Gentile wrote that his client wants term limits applied “prospectively” — that is, 12 years after they passed. Well said.