Editor's note: It should go without saying, but... Articles that appear in the opinion section under an author's byline are the opinion of that writer and not necessarily the opinion of the Montana Tavern Times
or any other organizations it is affiliated with.
A case for revising constitutional term limits
By Ronda Wiggers, Lobbyist
Montana Coin Machine Operators Assoc.
Is it time to term-limit term limits?
The Butte
Montana Standard daily newspaper recently ran an opinion piece in support of term limits. While reading the article, I kept wondering who the author was referring to as nothing he said resembled anything that I have ever seen at the capitol in Montana.
 |
Ronda Wiggers
|
The final by-line told the story. It seems the author, Mr. Blumel, is the president of U.S. Term Limits, located in Virginia. My guess would be he has never set foot in the halls of the Montana Capitol.
Seventeen years ago Montanans went to the polls and voted for term limits. The entire campaign focused on "career politicians" that go to Washington and forget where they came from.
However, right after the election, the federal courts threw out state-enacted term limits on federal office holders. We were left with term limits on the hard working citizen legislators of our state.
I do not believe anyone clearly understood all the consequences we would see due to term limits.
First, there is really not much more turnover in the legislature since term limits were enacted. It seems that in the past, if you got elected to go to Helena and did a poor job, your neighbors simply elected someone else to take your place, limiting terms at the polls. Now we may send home the cream off of the top—the best and brightest—because "their time is up."
Let me explain a bit how I perceive this is working in real life.
I know a lot of people who work on both sides of the aisle recruiting candidates. It is much easier to run a race for a vacant seat than to try to unseat an incumbent; just common knowledge.
When you approach a good candidate to run, they regularly answer that they will, but not until the sitting legislator is "termed out." It becomes very difficult to find anyone to run against a poor legislator. "How much damage can they do in another six years?" is often the response we hear. The unspoken answer is "a lot."
Ok, so a few poor legislators get a free ride and we kick out a few that we would have preferred to keep.
Is that the worst it gets? It's not.
First, let's clear up one myth that the pro term limit lobby likes to propound: We do not have "career legislators" in Montana. You simply cannot make a career out of 90 days every two years at less than $100 per day plus expenses.
What we do have is neighbors and friends who are willing to donate their time to serve the people of Montana. And many of them are pretty good at it.
The second myth that is cited by the term limit lobby is that term limits provide for a more diverse legislature. But I checked the facts.
I began my lobbying career in 1991. There were 31 females in the legislature. The median age of a lawmaker was in the 45-54 category with one being under 25 and seven between the ages of 25 and 34. As for employment, 41 listed agriculture, 29 education, 11 government and 18 law.
The last session that was not affected by term limits was 1999. There were 37 females. The median age was in the 55-64 category with one being under 25 and two between the ages of 25 and 34. Employment: 39 listed agriculture, 27 education, seven government and 10 law.
This session we have 39 females. The median age falls into the 55-64 category with one being under 25 and 13 between the ages of 25 and 34. Employment: 17 list agriculture, 13 education, six government and two law.
I guess we got rid of the attorneys! Other than that, there really are no significant changes in the demographics of the Montana Legislature due to term limits.
So what have term limits done in Montana? A lot, I say.
Term limits have given us divisive party politics. In the past, many of the legislators had served together for years. They became friends. They may not have agreed politically on everything, but they knew one another and respected one another. They worked together. In my opinion, term limits have killed this. It seems we no longer build those relationships and we have lost much of that mutual respect for one another.
Term limits have given us government bureaucracy at it's best. There are only two groups of people left in the capitol with any institutional knowledge of promises made, promises broken and the intent behind programs and legislation.
These two groups are the lobbyists and the bureaucrats. Many of the new legislators come to town pledging to avoid the "evil lobbyists" not realizing that government agencies are probably more lobbyist-staffed than any other entity, period.
Don't get met wrong, government lobbyists do serve a constructive purpose. They answer many questions about the details of the programs that their departments run and they advocate for those programs. However, it often takes more than one session for a new legislator to realize the government lobbyists are working for the government and not necessarily the taxpayers.
As a lobbyist, if we do not accurately represent our clients' interests and tell the truth to the legislators, we are gone. It often takes until the middle of their second session before a legislator realizes that we are representing the different groups from back home and we are there to provide information so that they can make informed decisions.
Term limits have given us a measure of chaos in the legislative process. Prior to term limits, there were plenty of "seasoned" legislators to mentor the newly elected. We now send the most experienced home and the junior members are responsible to mentor the freshman.
Huge numbers of bills are requested and introduced: this session is up 400 over 1999 and last session was up 600. Many of these would not be introduced if someone would visit with the freshman about the history—"the rest of the story."
Most of these bills do not become law, but they clutter the process with drafting, fiscal notes and hearings before being tabled. And it happens again and again, year after year, with the same bills. It is not the new legislator's fault. There are simply a shortage of veterans to school the newly elected.
The process suffers as well. It often takes until a third or fourth session to get a good handle on the rules of the legislative process. Bills are requested late, we rush to meet transmittal deadlines, and rules are simply often ignored.
Some committee chairman are only in their second or third session and still lack experience in how to limit testimony, control angry crowds or talkative attorneys. The result is often long hearings on bills that historically have their "day in court" each session before being tabled, and hearings on bills that may have real importance to the people of Montana are unfortunately abbreviated.
Term limits have done a serious disservice to the people of Montana. Extremely complex school financing and government budgets are not something one learns and understands in a few short days. It often takes most of the second term before a legislator gets a good understanding of the process, let alone these issues. We then get two legislative sessions of an experienced legislator and we send them home, only to start the process all over again.
As I write this column, HB458 is awaiting executive action in the House State Administration Committee. It will need to be passed out in the next three days to make transmittal deadline. This bill puts to the vote of the people a repeal of all term limits.
We historically have had constitutional term limits on our governor. This bill would eliminate those as well. Although I may not be in agreement with that small section of the bill, it seems a small price to pay to give the legislature back to the people of Montana.
It is my hope that this time we don't let the emotional rhetoric of a lobbyist from Virginia carry the day.
Editor’s note: the term limits bill was tabled in committee Feb. 18.
Source: The Montana Tavern Times,
March 2009, published monthly by Continental Communications, 125 W Granite, Suite 102, Butte MT. 59701
Source: The Montana Tavern Times, March 2009, published monthly by Continental Communications, 125 W Granite, Suite 102, Butte MT. 59701