By Nick Tomboulides
Imagine doing a study on whether the houses of the three little pigs need reinforcement, and asking the Big Bad Wolf for his take on the matter. Ridiculous as that may sound, it’s precisely how many anti-term limits “studies” are conducted. Take a 2004 study on Arizona’s term limits by Professor David Berman of Arizona State.
Berman assembled a case against the state’s eight-year term limits through a series of interviews with legislators. Shockingly, politicians didn’t like the idea of having to go home after eight years to find a real job!
Here are some actual quotes from Berman’s interviewees:
“Lobbyists are more powerful, are able to intimidate new members, new people are overwhelmed by lobbyists”
We know, of course, that this is not true. Whenever a term limits referendum has come up, lobbyists have rushed to defeat the limits or attempted to weaken them. Term limits force lobbyists to work harder to “buy out” a public official, by severing the bonds they have formed with veteran incumbents.
“I’ve observed new legislators listening to experienced lobbyists. My orientation is that the biases in these conversations are huge.”
No one is surprised to learn that lobbyists speak and people listen, but this legislator seems to be making the case that career politicians remain pure and untainted by the influence of lobbying. Practical observers know better. Lobbying remains a multi-billion dollar industry in Washington, where congressmen who get re-elected with 80 percent of the vote every year still raise millions from special interests for their re-election campaigns.
“Term limits mean less experienced leaders.”
They may be less experienced in the ways and means of pay-to-pay politics, but their real world experience trumps that of career politicians. Citizen legislators come from a world in which budgets must truly be balanced, and the word insolvency actually means something. As Ronald Reagan once said, “the only experience you gain in politics is how to be political.” Common sense comes from outside the political playpen.
“Term limits have helped break with a past in which the Arizona legislature was run by a small circle of legislative leaders and key lobbyists who were insulated from the public.”
Finally, a legislator who stood up for term limits. In Berman’s survey, they were pretty rare.
The split between citizens and legislators on term limits is fascinating, but it’s always important to remember that legislators carry the greatest conflict of interest. If enacted, term limits will separate them from prestige, big salaries, beautiful offices, 200 days off and a whole host of other perks and privileges. I hope that future surveys will use a more objective method.
Nick Tomboulides is the Executive Director of U.S. Term Limits.