We most likely will not see productive legislative sessions again until Missouri gets rid of its misguided term limits law. Undoubtedly term limits looked good to many people in the mid-90s when the proposition was placed before the voters. At that time, we were dealing with the crooked leadership of Speaker of the House Bob Griffin, and term limits enabled Missourians to rid themselves of Griffin and the remnants of his political machine.
Unfortunately, the claim that fresh faces bring fresh ideas has never come to fruition. Instead, we have been stuck with shortsighted legislation designed to boost the political aspirations of some officials, legislation designed to appeal to big-time contributors and lobbyists, and legislation shaped by the bureaucrats and those same lobbyists, who have been running the show.
The time to remove term limits is now, a sentiment shared by Columbia Tribune Publisher Hank Waters in his most recent column:
Rules limiting length of service for the most powerful leaders make sense, but we threw out too much to get there. Term limits are anti-democratic, reducing the power of voters to choose their elected representatives. We knew and ignored that fundamental argument back then. It was a mistake.
My hunch is another vote on term limits would produce a different result, and many or most lawmakers probably understand the value of revisiting the issue, but will they pass a resolution to that end? I hope constituents will urge such action, but perhaps we will need a petition campaign, a much more valuable exercise than other attempts we've seen to trigger constitutional revisions from the streets.
We have a better chance to understand the issue of term limits today. We've tried it, providing hindsight, and a petition campaign would give a good opportunity to more fully explain its problems. Without term limits we won’t necessarily elect smarter members, but we’ll be able to keep them if we want, and the legislative process will benefit.
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