We have lots of exciting news this program along with the corrupt politician of the week. Who will it be? Hi, I’m Holly Robichaud and this is US Term Limits Breaking News. The elections are over and term limits was the big winner. Over 150 congressional term limit supporters from both major political parties were elected to office. One of our biggest wins was in the US Senate where our Ohio State Chair Bernie Moreno was elected to the US Senate over Senator Sherrod Brown. Did you know that Senator Brown was for term limits before he was against it? Yes, Brown initially supported them in the US House of Representatives in 1992 but then fully backpedaled in 2004. It is a prime example of how the length in office can warp elected officials. In addition to Bernie Moreno, other US Term Limit State Chairs won races across the country. For example, in Indiana our State Chair Micah Beckwith was elected Lieutenant Governor.
He’ll be serving with now Governor Mike Braun who was a co-sponsor of the US Term Limits Amendment when he served in the US Senate. During his run for Governor, Braun signed the pledge to support our efforts to have Indiana legislature pass the term limits resolution. Last year in Indiana, the Statehouse passed our resolution. Now we’re working to get it passed in the State Senate so that the Hoosier State can join the growing list of states that have passed our resolution for congressional term limits. We’re confident that with Mike and Micah we’ll be able to get it across the finish line. We have exciting news coming now to Utah. Our State Chair Tina Cannon was elected State Auditor.
She’s the first woman individually ever elected statewide. In Oregon, our State Co-Chair Alek Skarlatos was elected to the Oregon State House of Representatives to represent Oregon’s 4th District. And in South Dakota, our former State Chair Taffy Howard was elected to the State Senate. Congratulations to all our State Chairs who ran for office and were successful. Support for term limits at all levels of government is growing exponentially and initiatives for term limits won big in the November elections. If you wanna see which counties passed term limits initiatives, go to termlimits.com/2024-term-limits-initiatives to view the results. That’s right. Check it out if you wanna see who is passing term limits. Now it’s time for an update on our story about the trial of former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan.
The jurors heard from officers of Commonwealth Edison known as ComEd on how the utility giant had to set aside a certain number of internships each year for students in Madigan’s District. His office would send over a list of applicants that ComEd was expected to approve with no questions asked in exchange for Madigan passing legislation favorable to the company. Testimony was also heard that Madigan’s office would send over names of people it expected ComEd to hire full-time despite bombing interviews and low GPA scores. And as you know, Madigan has pleaded not guilty in this major corruption case. Now it’s time for the corrupt politician of the week and this week it’s out of my home state of Massachusetts. Representative Richard Neal is the winner this week. Representative Neal was first elected to Congress in 1988, so you know he’s no friend of term limits.
Prior to that he served as mayor of Springfield from 1984 until taking a seat in Congress. He also served on the Springfield City Council from 1978 until being elected mayor. That’s almost half a century in office. Politico reported that Representative Neal’s son, Brendan Neal, has collected regular payments from his father’s campaign account and received business from lobbyists in exchange for tax breaks and other federal benefits. Representative Neal serves as the chair of the House Ways and Means Committee, which is a very powerful committee, and it helps shape the nation’s tax code. His son set up a lobbying firm that represented clients who had business before his father’s committee one year after his father became a chairman. How coincidental. According to Politico, the payment started at $4,425 almost always on the 13th of each month from the Richard Neal Congressional Committee to Brendan Neal Strategies for Strategic Consulting. The payments were bumped up to $4630 in 2024 and have continued totaling a whopping $196,000.
The representative’s office claims that Brendan Neal earns the money for part-time work for his father’s campaign committee on matters pertaining to the representative’s district, which he’s, according to them, is very qualified to do given his extensive experience in Massachusetts campaign. They also claim that they were not aware of his lobbying before his father’s campaign committee. Really? Really? Are we supposed to believe that? Once again, Representative Neal shows us why we need term limits. Wow, what an election season. I couldn’t be happier with how many of our pledge signers have won for office. It shows how much momentum we have and we’re getting closer every single day to passing congressional term limits. We’ve got the momentum, we’ve got the support, but we can’t do it without you. So make sure to go to termlimits.org and get involved today and be sure to share this program with your family and friends. This is Holly Robichaud for US Term Limits Breaking News. I’ll see you soon.