Philip Blumel: “Term Limits Foe: Convicted on All Counts.”
Philip Blumel: Hi, I’m Philip Blumel. Welcome to No Uncertain Terms, the official podcast of the Term Limits Movement. This is episode number 243, published on July 29th, 2024.
Stacey Selleck: Your sanctuary from partisan politics.
Philip Blumel: The “Term Limits foe” I’m referencing is better known as a veteran US Senator representing New Jersey for the last 30 or so years. His name is Bob Menendez. On July 16th, Senator Menendez was found guilty on all counts after being tried on charges of accepting bribes of gold bars and cash as payment for benefiting the governments of Egypt and Qatar. This man was the chair of the US Foreign Relations Committee. Now we’ve been featuring this story ever since his indictment, so I don’t need to go through all the details again: The FBI raid, the gold bars, the suit jacket pockets full of cash, his wife indicted as his accomplice, etc. Menendez will finally get his due when he’s sentenced in October. He’s toast. Finally. It is telling that this is the second time Senator Menendez has been charged with corruption. A 2015 indictment ended in a mistrial in 2018, after a jury failed to reach a verdict on some accounts and a judge acquitted Menendez on some charges. But this mistrial did not fool anyone. In April 2018, Menendez was “severely admonished” by the United States Select Committee on Ethics, in an official letter that demanded that Menendez return the illegal gifts that he had accepted.
Philip Blumel: Yet even earlier than that, Menendez was on our radar at US Term Limits as an enabler of the culture of corruption in politics. He has refused to sign the US Term Limits pledge to co-sponsor and vote for the Congressional Term Limits Amendment, of course. Also, back in 2012, he voted nay on a sense of the Senate non-binding resolution asking whether Congressional terms should be limited. Now in spite of all this, Menendez won re-election to his third term for the US Senate in 2018. Given the incumbent advantages that lead to the 90% plus election rate in Congress, the corrupt have little to fear. There is no industry as corrupt as politics, and with worse incentives and feedback mechanisms to fix the problem.
Philip Blumel: America agrees. There’s a new Pew Research Center report that illustrates the public’s profound disgust with the current political system. According to Pew, 65% of respondents are feeling exhausted and 55% feeling angry when thinking about politics. And here’s why. Just 4% of US adults believe the political system is working extremely or very well. A full 63% of Americans expressed little or no confidence at all in the future of the US political system. And this dissatisfaction is with both major political parties. Nearly 3 in 10 hold unfavorable views of both parties, the highest share in three decades. Furthermore, 25% of adults feel they are not well represented by either party.
Philip Blumel: Now, nothing about the Menendez case is going to fix this, even as it brings him to justice. We need congressional term limits. Term limits will end automatic re-election of powerful politicians, and temper the arrogance and the hubris that come with the toxic combination of long tenure and uncompetitive elections.
Speaker 3: This is a public service announcement!
Philip Blumel: In mid-July, the Republican Party held its presidential nominating convention in Milwaukee. Amid all the usual convention fanfare, the issue of term limits made at least two appearances, both via the state of Florida. Our first example is from Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who has been an active advocate of term limits, both as a US Congress member and then as the governor of America’s third largest state by population.
Ron DeSantis: We reject entrenched political class, and we demand term limits for members of Congress.
Philip Blumel: Next, we heard from Florida Representative Matt Gaetz, a US Term Limits pledge signer, who rather optimistically shared his enthusiasm for term limits and other reforms with the Republican presidential nominee.
Matt Gaetz: The swamp draining will recommence soon, and I will be President Trump’s strongest ally in Congress to pass term limits, to stop taxpayer funding for political campaigns, to ban members of Congress for life from becoming lobbyists, and for the same reason you don’t let the referee bet on the game ban members of Congress from trading individual stocks.
Philip Blumel: Next, on the other side of the aisle, there are some rumblings about a Supreme Court reform package to be announced by President Joe Biden this week, probably today. We don’t have the details yet, but the buzz suggests that the package will include a new ethics code, and yes, term limits for some people or justices. Stay tuned.
Philip Blumel: Next, over the past several years, US Term Limits has recruited a stable of high profile individuals across the country to serve as US Term Limits state chairs. Their role is to be our chief communicators of the Term Limits message and provide “air support,” you could call it, for the US Term Limits staffers and volunteers on the ground in those states. We currently have 28 such chairs, and Andrew Kalloch and Brandon Herrera are the latest.
Philip Blumel: Kalloch, a Democrat, joins Alek Skarlatos as a co-chair representing the Term Limits movement in Oregon. Kalloch brings a depth of both private and public service to this role. He has long advocated for Term Limits at the federal level, and part of his new role is assisting Oregon in adopting the Congressional Term Limits Convention Resolution. Andrew Kalloch is the Director of Global Policy Development at Airbnb where he has worked since 2016. Prior to his work at Airbnb, Andrew was the Deputy Policy Director to the New York City Comptroller where he authored reports on a wide variety of public policy issues, as well as a staff attorney at the ACLU of New York where his practice focused on constitutional litigation in state and federal court.
Philip Blumel: Now, our other new chair is Brandon Herrera in Texas. Herrera is a manufacturing entrepreneur, a Second Amendment activist, and a social media personality. He was a Republican candidate for US Congress in House District 23 in Texas. Brandon is a Republican and describes himself as a constitutionalist, who believes one of the keys to individual liberty is limiting federal power as much as possible and returning that power to the states to decide issues for themselves. And so, keeping with our non-partisan mandate at US Term Limits, we welcome these two activists aboard. They represent different parties but are united, like America, on the issue of improving elections and representation via term limits.
Philip Blumel: Next, our own Holly Robichaud, as always, is on the case and has additional Term Limits stories from her YouTube program, Breaking News on Term Limits. Let’s see what she has for us this week. Holly?
Holly Robichaud: One of the driving reasons why so many Americans support term limits is that it will weaken the power of lobbyists. Did you know that from 2015 to 2023, $32 billion was spent solely on federal lobbying, with $4.26 billion of that being spent just last year? The kicker is that congressional members often join lobbying groups after they serve their term in office. In exchange for their votes, they get millions of dollars. According to Lee Fang, an investigative reporter, former Representative Jim Nussle was hired to lead the Credit Union National Association, a lobby group for credit unions. He currently now has a salary of over $2.6 million. That same reporter noted that former Senator Ken Salazar has a salary of almost $3.5 million after becoming a partner with the law firm WilmerHale. He also works for gas and oil industry, as well as advising Facebook and water asset management.
Holly Robichaud: Well, now I’ve got some good news. Legislative candidates across the nation are getting the message that voters want congressional term limits. An additional 63 2024 legislative candidates signed our US Term Limits pledge in the past two weeks. In November it looks like we’re going to have a record number of state legislators in office who have signed our pledge.
Holly Robichaud: I’ve got more good news today. Over the past three weeks, six congressional candidates have signed our US Term Limits pledge. We are on the cusp of having a record-breaking cycle this year.
Philip Blumel: Next, as you know, if you listen to this podcast regularly, 34 states can bypass Congress to propose a congressional term limits amendment. We discuss our progress on this front pretty much every week. But we’ve also created a convenient cheat sheet. Check it out at termlimits.com/progress. The US Constitution provides the state legislature’s authority to propose amendments without the approval of Congress. To make it happen, 34 state legislatures must pass resolutions to call for a convention for the states to propose a congressional term limits amendment. Now eight states have done this so far: Florida, Alabama, Missouri, West Virginia, Oklahoma, Wisconsin, Tennessee, and Louisiana. They have all passed US Term Limits applications specific to the single subject of congressional term limits.
Philip Blumel: But did you know that 19 states have passed congressional term limits specific language as part of a multi-subject application? To eliminate all legal uncertainty and positively impose term limits on the US House and Senate, US Term Limits is fighting to pass our single subject congressional term limits application in 34 states. We do have a special focus on these 19. For one thing, they’ve demonstrated their fertile ground for passing a term limits convention. Now to date, we have passed chambers in Indiana, Utah, Georgia, Arizona, Alaska, and North Carolina, in addition to the states I mentioned where we’ve actually passed the entire state. In 2024, we have introduced resolutions in at least 23 states and passed through many, many committees. To see which single subject term limits resolutions are currently actively progressing in the states and how you can help, visit termlimits.com/takeaction. And for the graphic map of the progress of the Term Limit’s resolution, see our new cheat sheet, termlimits.com/progress. And of course, keep listening to the No Uncertain Terms podcast.
Philip Blumel: Last, an update on Arizona State Senator Justine Wadsack, who, sadly, has inspired us to break out the Liar Liar bumper music. Last episode we told the story of this pledge breaker that falsely claimed that she was endorsed by US Term Limits, even having broken her US Term Limits pledge. Now, US Term Limits never endorses candidates, and, it goes without saying, aren’t keen on politicians who sign a pledge as a candidate and then break it as an incumbent. Since then, she’s doubled down on her strategy of prevarication by claiming that she was deceived by US Term Limits about the meaning of the pledge she signed. She claimed in a tweet and elsewhere that she wasn’t told that the pledge committed her to support an Article V convention for the sole purpose of enacting Term Limits on Congress. And yet, here’s what the pledge says that she held in front of her and signed in ink with her own hands: “I, Justine Wadsack, pledge that as a member of the state legislature, I will co-sponsor, vote for, and defend the resolution applying for an Article V convention for the sole purpose of enacting Term Limits on Congress.” And then, earlier this year when the Term Limits Convention Resolution came up for a vote in the Arizona Senate, she voted nay.
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Philip Blumel: Thanks for joining us for another episode of No Uncertain Terms. The Term Limits Convention bills are moving through the state legislatures. This could be a breakthrough year for the Term Limits movement. To check on the status of the Term Limits Convention Resolution in your state, go to termlimits.com/takeaction. There you will see if it has been introduced and where it stands in the committee process on its way to the floor vote. If there’s action to take, you’ll see a “take action” button by your state. Click it. This will give you the opportunity to send a message to the most relevant legislators urging them to support the legislation. They have to know you’re watching. That’s termlimits.com/takeaction. If your state has already passed the Term Limits Convention Resolution or the bill’s not been introduced in your state, you can still help. Please consider making a contribution to US Term Limits. It is our aim to hit the reset button on US Congress, and you can help. Go to termlimits.com/donate. Termlimits.com/donate. Thanks. We’ll be back next week.
Stacey Selleck: Find us on most social media at US Term Limits. Like us on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, and now LinkedIn.
Speaker 7: USTL.