Back in 1994, as the Republican Revolution led by Newt Gingrich and the “Contract with America” was trucking along, one of its key items was to set up term limits on federal offices with the intent of getting rid of career politicians. The idea had a lot of steam and made sense on a grass-roots level that would bring government back to the masses instead of the same individuals year in and year out.
Milwaukee County is now learning this lesson the hard way. (Check www.jsonline.com for more details. Keyword: Ament).
After all, the idea of term limits isn’t something new to American politics. They are mentioned in James Madison’s journal as being debated heavily at the Constitutional Convention. The 22nd Amendment limits the president to only two terms. Though some lawyers for a certain ex-president have suggested that it means only two “consecutive” terms.
But just as legislation was about to hit the House floor, the Supreme Court issued a warning that passage of this bill would make it unconstitutional because the current form was that of a law and not an amendment to the Constitution.
So at the moment, this part of the movement has stalled since the general consensus is that no politician is going to willingly vote to kick him or herself out of office in 10 or 12 years.
However, the term limits movement did hit strides in individual state legislatures.
In 1990, California was the first to instill local term limits. Since that time, 17 other states enacted term limit referendums on state offices ranging from governor all the way down to dogcatcher.
A good example was New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, who couldn’t seek reelection because of term limits, even though most predicted he would have won in a landslide.
Then came this recent election cycle, the one where most states will see a wholesale cleaning out of state legislatures and governors” mansions because of term limits. To say that some politicians are taking their “early retirement” with a grain of salt is a gross understatement.
In Idaho, the GOP-controlled state legislature rushed through a bill that repealed its term limits. The assemblymen and senators went as far as overturning the veto of Republican Gov. Dirk Kempthrone to keep their jobs.
In California, a state with an energy crisis, a school system in disaster, and a $12 Billion budget deficit because
Democratic Gov. Gray Davis locked the state in long-term contracts with energy providers at rates above current market prices, the current hot topic is Prop 45. Prop 45 is a term limits repeal because the fine print states that all incumbents at or past term limits can seek re-election with a signed petition by 20 percent of the district’s electorate. Most incumbents can get 20 percent with ease.
Both of these situations point out that term limit repeals aren’t a Republican or Democratic issue. They are tools of career politicians who have become too comfortable with the job they are doing and too friendly with special interests ranging from the corporate to teachers’ unions. Obtaining political office has become one of deal making and selling out constituents all for the sake of re-election.
What makes the Idaho and California scenarios truly worthy of disgust is that they are doing it behind the voters’ backs. They are cheating citizens out of laws that they had a hand in enacting.
This nation doesn’t need more career politicians. The longest running politicians currently are Strom Thurmond (R-SC) and Robert Byrd (D-WV) who have been Senators since the Eisenhower administration. That’s well over 40 years.
When is too long, too much?
