Could you imagine a scenario in which a 14%, that’s right. 14% congressional approval rating is considered good news? Unfortunately, you don’t have to. The Economist’s newest poll shows that this statistic is an improvement compared to July’s. It’s only a 2% improvement. At the same time, close to 90% of Americans support congressional term limits. According to a Gallup Poll, the last time Congress had this much support was the result of the 9-11 attacks. Their numbers went from 42% to 84% in October of 2001. As expected, however, it dropped right back down to 41% by the same time two years later. We need term limits. Hi, I’m Holly Robichaud, and this is US Term Limits breaking news.
You deserve to know. Constituents deserve to know when their representatives have failed them by pledging support for an issue until it’s no longer convenient for them. Term Limits Action is a YouTube channel that monitors the individuals who flipped on their pledge. Take a look.
Josh Reilly refuses to listen to the will of the people. Reilly refuses to sign the US Term Limits pledge, and that just, well, stinks. Don’t send another arrogant career politician to Congress. Term Limits Action is responsible for the content of this advertising. Diapers and politicians must be changed often, and for the same reason. 87% of voters support term limits for members of Congress, but Pat Ryan won’t sign the US Term Limits pledge. Term Limits Action is responsible for the content of this advertising.
While Congress may be dragging its heels on term limits, the message is getting out at the state level. In Pennsylvania, our state co-chairs, Andy Dinniman and John Eckelberger, penned an op-ed that’s been running in newspapers statewide in the Keystone State. One of the many important arguments they wrote concerned cognitive decline. They said, consider the world’s greatest deliberative body. The Senate has some members who appear to be visiting from a high end assisted living facility. In addition, the daily dysfunction we see in Congress and the failure to offer fundamental solutions to the issues we face have led to voters realizing we must do better. Congressional term limits are the solution. I couldn’t agree more. In South Carolina, our state chair, John Warren, also authored an op-ed piece that’s being carried throughout the Palmetto State.
Hey, today we’re joined by our new South Dakota chair, Erin Tobin. We’re so excited to having her on board. Erin, thank you for joining us.
Thank you for having me. Good morning.
Good morning. So can you tell us a little bit about yourself.
Yeah, I am a resident of a small community. I grew up in a rural area on a ranch. And we were, you know, kids that got up in the morning and went out and worked with the family. As soon as you’re old enough to walk, you are driving a tractor to put up hay and checking cattle and helping with the whole process. I became a nurse practitioner because I love science and I love helping people and working with people. And I knew that I wanted to move back to the rural area that I grew up in and raise my children. And several years ago, I would have never thought that I would be interested in running for a spot in the legislature. But an opportunity came available and I ran for the South Dakota legislature. And so I’ve been a state senator for the last four years. And it kind of runs along the lines of being a nurse because you’re working with people and helping people achieve their goals. And I’ve enjoyed the last four years. And I also really enjoy being in the community that I live in. But I am a strong believer in term limits. And so that’s what’s brought me here today.
All right. Well, we’re really glad to have you on board. You’ve got a wealth of knowledge and very diverse of background. So why do you believe in term limits so much?
You know, when I go out and talk to people, my constituents or just people in the community, a lot of people talk about some of the things that they see in DC, people who’ve been there too long and really don’t seem to be fighting to get anything done. And once I went to the South Dakota legislature, we are absolutely a citizen legislature. We have 40 days to accomplish all our goals, which means we get there and we get to work and we get it done. We balance our budget. And after seeing some of that take place, I knew that that that could be applied at the national level. And we have people who are staying too long. And sometimes it doesn’t even seem like they have the capacity to still be there. But it’s just too cushy of a job. And I think that could make some positive change.
So do you think it’ll fix DC?
You know, I am an eternal optimist. I think it’s a step in the right direction. But there’s a lot of fixing that needs to be done in DC. But let’s face it, when you give someone a cushy job that they can spend their entire rest of their life doing and possibly not even get anything done, there’s a lot of excuses in DC. It’s easy to blame the other team. And, you know, also the motivation to get something done might not even be there because you just want to continue to be there for a lifelong position where you have a pension and all of those cushy things along with it. So I think it’s a very positive step in the right direction. Do I think it’s the exact end all for fixing DC? No, absolutely there will be other things that could be worked on. But it’s a step in the right direction and it’s a good first step.
Couldn’t agree with you more. How do South Dakotans feel about term limits?
You know, like I was saying, when I’m out talking to people, they’re very concerned about what is going on in DC. And I would say overwhelmingly South Dakota would be behind this if we were to it back to our voters in a ratification or any of those sorts of processes.
Great. Now, how do people get in touch with you if they want to get involved?
Sure. You can use my email address, which is erin@erintobinforSouthDakota, which is S-D.com. I also have a Facebook page and I can be messaged through that route as well. And I’m usually pretty quick to respond to either.
All right. Well, great. I can’t thank you enough for joining us today and look forward to working with you.
Yes, I look forward to it, too. And thank you for having me.
Our elected officials are supposed to work for us. Citizens shouldn’t have to fight against their representatives to have petitions accepted. Casey May Rogers, a Bossier City citizen and a member of the Bossier term limits coalition in Louisiana, has filed a lawsuit against the city council after they voted against accepting a certified petition to put term limits before the voters. In Indian Wells, California, a county superior court upheld the term limits initiative as passed by voters. Indian Wells officials said that the application of Measure J to limit all terms served during a person’s lifetime regardless of when Measure J was adopted. This is what Congress should be a cohesive legislative body that listens and defends the ideals the people want, including term limits. I’m also happy to report that in Mitchell, South Dakota, term limits were proposed by the city’s chief executive. You heard it right. Mayor Jordan Hanson proposed term limits on all elected city officials.
Way to go, Mayor. Candidates for office are seeing the momentum and are joining the term limits movement. An additional 59 2024 state legislative candidates have signed our pledge in the past two weeks. We anticipate after November, we will have a record number of state legislators and members of Congress who have signed our pledge. And a special thank you goes to our pledge team for their efforts. You might remember how Justine Wadsack claimed that we endorsed her as a candidate. We don’t endorse candidates. But on top of that, she flipped on her term limits pledge. During this year’s election, voters plainly saw how she used an important issue to win in 2022, but didn’t follow through with her word. The consequences of her deceit, her loss in the Arizona Senate primary. Ballotpedia reports that approximately 73% of state elections nationwide are uncontested this year.
That’s right, 73%. In the last seven years, this is the second highest percentage of uncontested races with 2020 being the highest at 79%. In 2019, had the lowest percentage calculated to be about 54%. Even so, other years were still over 60%. This only serves to demonstrate the magnitude of politicians who are stagnant in office and how term limits would not only drastically improve these numbers, but do so permanently. Recently, Representative Bill Pascrell, age 87, passed away while serving in Congress. It shouldn’t be a point of pride for a member of Congress to serve over a quarter of a century until they pass away in office. Aside from the fact that they should be enjoying their golden years, it means they’re representing their country while they are declining physically and mentally and making decisions with an impaired mind. Pascrell served on four different committees, including Homeland Security and Social Security, and he was also part of 40 Caucuses and chaired four of them.
Now it’s time for an update on Bob Goldbar Menendez. Goldbar Bob officially left office on August 20th following his federal criminal conviction and ended his re-election campaign as an independent in New Jersey. He is now appealing his conviction. His resignation likely ends his political career that started a few years after his high school graduation and continued non-stop until 2024. Now it’s time for the corrupt politician of the week, and we’ve got a doozy for you. It’s Virginia Representative Donald Byer. He was first elected to Congress in 2015. Prior to that, he served as United States Ambassador to Luxembourg and was Lieutenant Governor of Virginia. Before he was elected, OpenSecrets.org reports that his net worth was $56 million, but then it skyrocketed to $123 million the following year. The following year, coincidentally, beyer.house.gov elaborates that he was elected the ranking member on the Science, Space, and Technology Subcommittee on Oversight on February 11th of 2015.
It comes as no surprise then that the New York Times reports that he and his wife bought and sold shares of Alphabet and Microsoft while he was on the House Science and Space Technology Subcommittee on Investigating and Oversight. Hmm, I guess it pays to be a politician. Every week I share with you another corrupt politician using their office to benefit themselves. We need term limits. Politics should not be about putting money in people’s pockets. It should be about helping the people. Congressional term limits can make that happen, and it can become a reality.
We’ve got the momentum. We’ve got the support of the people, but we can’t do it alone. We need your help. Please go to termlimits.org and get involved today, and be sure to share this program with your family and friends. I’m Holly Robichaud for US Term Limits Breaking News. I’ll see you soon.