Today we have a special birthday wish, a new corrupt politician of the week, and another politician that’s on trial under 23 indictments, and you won’t believe how many pledges our pledge team got. Hi, I’m Holly Robichaud and this is Breaking News on Term Limits.
We have some big news coming out of Illinois. The trial of former Illinois House speaker Michael Madigan has begun after two years of delay, Madigan is charged in a 23 count for racketeering conspiracy using interstate facilities in an aid of bribery, wire fraud, and attempted extortion. This is pretty serious stuff. Before his arrest and indictment, Madigan was praised for years as being the longest serving House speaker in American history. He was held up as an example of why experience matters in elective office. Madigan was first elected to the Illinois State House in 1971. Richard Nixon was president and Walt Disney World was first opened. He was speaker of the House for a total of 36 years and was first elected to speaker in 1983 when Ronald Reagan was president and Flashdance was the top movie.
Madigan set much of Illinois’s political agenda, deciding which pieces of legislation would get a vote. He controlled multiple political funds, allowing him to pick candidates for office. Madigan also ran and oversaw all redistricting maps. He was, in many ways, the political powerhouse of Illinois. According to federal prosecutors, he explored all of his roles in his illegal activities. He is also accused of steering work to his law firm and passing legislation favorable to his clients. And for years, Madigan and politicians like him have been used as the reason as why term limits is a bad idea. “We would lose legislative knowledge in seniority,” critics argue. Well, Michael Madigan is a perfect example of why we need term limits. Well, this month, Georgia Congressman Hank Johnson celebrates his 70th birthday. You might remember him from his mentioning that he thought Guam would capsize.
About 24 miles, if I recall long. So 24 miles long, about seven miles wide at the least widest, place on the island. And about 12 miles wide on the widest part of the island. And I don’t know how many square miles that that is. Do you happen to know?
I don’t have that, figure with me, sir. I can certainly supply it to you if you’d like.
Yeah. My fear is that, the whole island will become so overly populated that it will tip over and capsize.
Well, Guam is in no risk. Representative Johnson was one of the nasty 19 who voted against us in the House Judiciary Committee. That’s right. He voted against term limits. He has served nine terms and only faces token opposition this year. So happy birthday Congressman.
Did you know that if you live in Colorado, you might see a disclaimer beneath a candidate’s name that states that they signed the term limits pledge? The Colorado Sun reports that this is a result of Colorado’s 18th amendment, which was proposed in 1998. It allows congressional candidates to sign the pledge declaring that they will serve no more than three terms in the US House of Representatives or two terms in the Senate. Under this law, a candidate running for a fourth term in the US House, or a third term in the US Senate, Senate is unable under these rules issued by the Colorado Secretary of State, to sign the pledge and have the disclaimer appear under their name. Interesting enough, none of the major party congressional candidates in Colorado have opted to have this disclaimer beneath their names.
As I mentioned at the top of the show, we’ve got some great news coming from our pledge team. Candidates for state legislative seats are seeing the enthusiasm and appeal for term limits. So they’re signing our US term limits pledge. An additional 82, that’s right, if you guessed 82, you’d be correct. 82 State 2024 legislative candidates have signed our pledge in the past two weeks. We are breaking records.
We also have record number of congressional candidates signing our pledge. Do you know who is signed? Well, you can figure it out by gonna termlimits.com/2024 voter guide and see if your candidates have signed. Please check it out and please share it with your friends.
Support for term limits at all levels of government is growing and initiatives for tem limits are spreading like wildfire. In West Cicana, New York voters will decide if they wanna limit the city council and city supervisor to a total of two four year terms. We have high hopes that it will pass. It’s high time that more voices are heard and more individuals circulate in all of political bodies of government. I hope you agree. Now I’m sure you’re wondering what’s going on in the term limit saga in Bossier City, Louisiana. Well, KSLA News reports that the State Board of Commission postponed letting citizens vote on the term limits until 2025, despite them filing everything properly to be on the ballot this year. This is one example, term limits being delayed by entrenched interests who are desperate to hold onto power.
The Bossier Term Limits Coalition are committed to fighting to get it on the ballot as soon as possible. We’re rooting for them. I’m rooting for them. Now it’s time for the Corrupt Politician of the week. And did you guess representative Bobby Scott? Well, if you guessed him, you’d be correct. Representative Scott was first elected to Congress in 1992. Prior to that, he served in the Virginia State Senate for 10 years and the Virginia House of Delegates for five years. So what did he do? Well, representative Scott was accused of sexual harassment during the height of the Me Too movement. According to NBC News, former aide Reese Everson alleged that representative Scott had sexually harassed her in 2013, touching her on the knee and the back on several separate occasions in addition to flirting with her.
He also propositioned to her in a inappropriate relationship, asking her to travel with him. When she rebuffed his advances, he replied, “Well, if you’re gonna be good, what’s the point of you coming?” Everson then claimed that this was the basis of her termination in 2013. Unsurprisingly, Scott strongly denies her claims. Term limits can become a reality. We’ve got the momentum, but we need you to go vote for the Term Limits candidates. Please check out our voter’s guide. Go to termlimits.org and get involved today and be sure to like, comment, subscribe, and invite your friends to watch our US Term Limits Breaking News. This is Holly Robichaud for US Term Limits Breaking News. I’ll see you soon.