We have breaking news coming out of the Bayou State. The Louisiana Senate passed SCR 2, which means we are now in the house for a committee vote. While this is an incredible win for term limits, it’s not the only piece of good news this show. Stay tuned. Hi, I’m Holly Robichaud and this is breaking news for term limits.
Also in the news is North Carolina, the Cherokee Scout in North Carolina ran an op-ed by our North Carolina State chair, Lee Brown, calling for North Carolina State Senate to pass our term limits resolution. The newspaper is also running an online poll to see how voters feel about term limits on Congress. I think we’ll know how that turns out. The special election for the Georgia House of Representatives in District 139 is another example that demonstrates how voters want candidates who support term limits. In the field of four, both candidates who were term limit supporters, Sean Knox and Carmen Rice advance to the runoff. So, either way, no matter who gets elected, we’re gonna add another term limit supporter to the Georgia House. State legislative candidates across the nation are getting the message on the desire for congressional term limits. An additional 88, that’s right, 88 2024 legislative candidates signed our pledge over the past two weeks.
If the future reflects the past, then this number will only continue to grow exponentially. This is happening because of people like you, individuals who support term limits and understand the power that you have at the ballot box. And a special thank you goes out to our pledge team who’s making sure these candidates sign the pledges. While Congress may be resisting term limits, congressional candidates are embracing it. Over the past two weeks, we saw an additional 10 congressional candidates sign the US term limits pledge. Think about it. That means 98 candidates over the past two weeks have signed our pledges and we’re so thankful that they did. Like our state candidates, the number will continue to grove on the congressional side as well. Now, it’s time for an update on United States Senator Bob Goldbar Menendez. Goldbar Bob wants evidence of his luxury lifestyle barred from his trial, seems he thinks that the jury might believe that he was living beyond his means.
Lawyers for Menendez want evidence of his lifestyle, including Cuban cigars, jewelry, designer handbags, and other items barred from being introduced as evidence. Yahoo News reported that their lawyers claim jurors should not be told about his preference for luxury items, including his fondest for Bombay Sapphire gin cigars, upscale meals on a limited salary and his wife’s handbags and jewelry while she’s also driving a Mercedes-Benz. Bob Menendez is charged with crimes including bribery, fraud, extortion, obstruction, and acting as a foreign agent for Egypt. His wife has also been charged along with two businessmen. They have all pleaded not guilty. A third businessman has pleaded guilty and is cooperating with prosecutors as reported by Yahoo News. We’ll keep you posted. Now, it’s time for the corrupt politician of the week and we’ve got a doozy this week. It is Representative Clay Higgins from Louisiana. First elected in 2016.
Representative Higgins is no stranger to controversy. Representative Higgins as a former police officer resigned rather than face disciplinary actions for use of unnecessary force and lying to investigators. He was even accused of having another officer lie for him. That officer later served in Higgins congressional office. Then Higgins was a member of the St. Landry’s Sheriff’s Office in charge of Crime Stoppers program, web archive reports, and a statement made by the sheriff at that time said, I repeatedly told him to stop saying divisive, disrespectful, and demeaning things like you have no brain cells, knuckleheads and liars. He later resigned for various infractions in conduct unbecoming the sheriff’s department. According to roll call, Higgins was elected to Congress in 2016 despite failing to pay his child support owing more than 100,000 dollars. He was caught on tape telling his ex-wife that if he was elected to Congress the Congressional Pay would help him pay the support since it paid more than his current salary.
Then in 2023, he manhandled a progressive activist and the incident was caught on tape. Newsweek reports, no charges were ever filed despite the assault. The news media’s also getting a drift. They’re picking up the American’s desire for congressional term limits. Erie News now recently aired a story about the need for congressional term limits and how US term limits is spearheading the push. The network interviewed US term limits board member Paul Jacob.
We want term limits. It’s straightforward, it’s simple, and it breaks up the sort of arrogant power that Washington DC has become known for.
If you believe Congress should have term limits, you are not alone. Recent surveys show 90% of Republican and 86% of Democratic voters are in favor.
The American people want term limits. They wanna know that no one, no matter how popular at the moment is gonna be able to stay forever in power.
Paul Jacob is a board member of US term limits, a nationwide group advocating for term limits at all levels of government. He believes the longer a lawmaker is in Washington, the more disconnected they become.
And so you start to get comfortable. Term after term, you’re gaining more and more power, but you’re also be getting more and more removed from your constituents.
Lawmakers we spoke to say that’s not always the case.
Why would you want to take anybody out of office that’s done a great job for you only because time’s up?
Representative Mike Kelly says, experience matters when it comes to delivering results. If voters aren’t satisfied with those results, Kelly says they have the power to term limit their elected officials.
Term limits are determined by people who get registered, get informed and get out and vote. Those are the people that control term limits.
And many Democrats agree.
If people you know come out and vote, they can change people every two years or in the Senate, every six years.
But losing as an incumbent is rare.
The truth is the power of incumbency from the free mail they get to send out at taxpayer expense to the name ID, to the fact that they have a vote on power right now and that means they raise a ton more money than challengers.
According to the nonpartisan watchdog group, open secrets incumbents running in 2022. Senate races raised an average of $29.7 million each, a massive advantage over the average $2.1 million raised by their challengers. The contrast is true in the house, just not as expensive. In the 2022 midterms, incumbent representatives on average raised $2.8 million, roughly nine times more than the $308,000 raised by their challengers. That’s one reason Jacob and US term limits are pushing for change, a constitutional change.
Now, we’re looking at how we get a constitutional amendment to limit members of Congress.
Article five of the Constitution allows either 34 states at convention or both chambers of Congress to propose constitutional amendments. Three fourths or 38 states must then ratify the proposal in order for it to be enshrined as law. It may be a tall task, but Jacob says it’s only a matter of time.
The question is when? It’s going to happen. But when?
Every show I talk about how we’ve got the momentum, we’ve got the people with us. Just look at this episode. 98 candidates have signed our pledge. That’s real momentum. But we need to do more ’cause you know, Congress doesn’t wanna pass this. So, we need to go, you to go to termlimits.org and get involved today and be sure to share this program with your friends and family. This is Holly Robichaud for breaking News on Term limits. We’ll see you soon.