2024 is ending on a high note for US term limits. North Carolina has passed our term limits convention resolution by a vote of 28 to 21. Hi, I am Holly Robichaud, and this is US Term Limits Breaking news.
We also have to thank State Senator Mary Bode. We didn’t anticipate her vote in favor of the resolution, but she did. Once again, this only serves to demonstrate how unifying and critical term limits is to the American people. Our North Carolina state chair, Lee Brown, deserves some special recognition as well. She tirelessly championed the issue for us and helped us get it across the finish line. After the vote, she was interviewed on ABC 11 in Raleigh, North Carolina, where she discussed the importance of the North Carolina passing our resolution and joining the growing number of states supporting congressional term limits. Of course, we also have to give a shout out to Shanna Chamblee, our Southern Regional Field Director and all the volunteers who helped make this possible. We’re so excited about North Carolina, as you can see. Now we’re wondering will your state join us? North Carolina joined Tennessee and Louisiana in passing the term limits convention resolution this year.
Florida reapproved its resolution this year to clean up some of the language in the resolution to make it much better match with others. This year, without a doubt, is the most successful year yet for US Term Limits. We want to build upon our success to even greater heights next year, so please contribute to US Term Limits so we can keep the momentum growing. Go to termlimits.com/donate today. As more states pass the term limits convention resolution, we’re getting closer to reaching the 34 states needed to trigger the term limits convention. This will pressure Congress to act. Noted political science professor, Dr. Barbara Perry, comments in her book Unfounded Fears, that the convention calls for a presidential term limits played a role in generating the 22nd Amendment. Furthermore, when the states pass them through the Article 5 convention for the sole purpose of establishing term limits or Congress does it through preemption, our amendment will pass.
It’s gonna become a reality. I’m sure you’ve heard the news about Nancy Pelosi, age 84 and Mitch McConnell age 82 having recent falls. However, did you know that they’ve spent a total of 76 years in Congress? That’s right, 76 years. Is it no wonder that they oppose congressional term limits. We wish them a healthy and speedy recovery. However, we hope that they’ll wake up and smell the coffee and get on board with congressional term limits. They are the poster child for why we need term limits. Louisiana had its runoff elections this past weekend in the city of Harahan. Voters voted to keep term limits imposed on the mayor and the city council by a vote of 76 to 24. Term limits are popular with voters and are intended to limit a politician’s time in office. But like everything, some politicians find loopholes in order to overstay their welcome in office.
Case in point is Florida’s Debbie Mayfield. Prior to being elected in Florida State House this past November, she served two terms in the Florida State Senate from 2016 to 2024 before being term limited. Then President-Elect Trump announced that he was appointing Florida representative Mike Waltz as a national security advisor. That prompted a special election for Waltz’s congressional seat that a pledge signer, Randy Fine, who had been elected to Mayfield’s former state Senate seat, ran in that election and he resigned from the state Senate. Now the state Senate seat is vacant and Mayfield is running for her old position. But how can she? She’s term limited, right? The word on the state constitutional amendment on term limits states that no person may appear on the ballot for reelection to the Florida State Senate or Florida House if the person had served in office for eight consecutive years. It doesn’t specify how long that person must stay out of office before being able to run again for the same position.
So legally speaking, Mayfield can. Now for a brief update on the story about the trial of former Illinois House speaker Michael Madigan. Until his corruption was exposed, he was the nation’s longest serving State House speaker and was regarded as one of the prime examples as to why term limits was a bad idea. He was considered one of the most powerful, and now we know one of the most corrupt politicians in Illinois. United States representative Nikki Budzinski, who previously served in the administration of Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, testified that the nickname for Madigan was the Finks. This came out when testifying how the Pritzker administration handled job recommendations for Madigan. She denied that any people were selected because they donated to Madigan. Capital News Illinois also reports that Budzinski testified that other influential political figures besides Madigan forwarded their own list of names to Pritzker. However, she said, the former speaker stands out in her memory as an elected official who followed up with Pritzker’s staff on hiring recommendations most frequently.
In total, 47% of Madigan’s recommendations were hired. That’s a pretty good average. Now it’s time for the corrupt politician of the week. And guess who made our list? US Representative Brad Schneider from of all places, Illinois. The New York Times reports that representative Schneider’s wife purchased $50,000 to $100,000 in healthcare company Teladoc Health in May, 2019, five months into his time on the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Health, which oversees Medicare. The following month, she sold all her Teladoc Health shares and also closed all her positions in many other companies. Is it a coincidence then that Representative Schneider changed his tax filing status in a manner to prevent having to disclose his wife’s income or to put it in another way, how many convenient coincidences does it take to become a deliberate pattern? Wonder. We’ve had our best year ever at US Term limits. We’ve got the momentum, we’ve got the support, but we can’t do it without you. Please go to termlimits.org and get involved today or donate. We need help across the board and be sure to share this program, US Term Limits Breaking News with your family and friends. This is Holly Robichaud for US Term Limits Breaking News. I’ll see you soon.