Last week Surry County Commissioner Craig Hunter announced he would not seek a third term on the board, and in so doing the former board chairman showed still another level of understanding of what makes good government, an understanding often missing among many modern-day politicians.

Hunter is in his second term on the board, and during his time he has not been shy about expressing his opinion and sticking to his guns in the face of opposition. Sometimes he has, in our opinion, been dead wrong and other times we believe he has been right on the money, but in every case there was no doubt — Hunter believed his vote was in the best interest of the county and its residents.

At times his comments riled those who disagreed with him, and we will be the first to say Hunter has grown into the position, seeming to understand that sometimes it is how you say something rather than what you say, particularly in a position of public service and leadership.

And now, he is stepping aside because, in his words, “I believe in time limits on elected offices, and I think it is a good thing to have fresh faces and fresh people serve in public office.”

We could not agree more. Elected officials have an incredible built-in advantage over newcomers to politics. Name recognition, the ability to campaign while seemingly doing public service, even being able to take credit (rightly or wrongly) for positive events in the leader’s jurisdiction, gives elected officials a huge boost when running for re-election. It is not uncommon for those elected to office, whether it be on the national, state, or local level, to retain a post for decades for this very reason.

Even those who run on a platform which calls for term limits often change their minds once in office. The greatest example of that is perhaps Republicans elected to Congress on the 1994 Contract with America platform who made term limits a central part of their campaign and then famously abandoned that promise once in office.

That is why it is heartening to see a commissioner such as Hunter, who presumably could hold office for as long as he wants, stepping aside after eight years. He recognizes that the best government is one which has elected leaders for a short time, who step aside for other citizens to have a chance to serve.

We commend Hunter for his stand, because in stepping down from his board position he shows a whole new level of leadership.