Time to End Term Limits

It is good to hear that lawmakers this year are more open to the idea of repealing or restricting term limits. Limits on the number of terms legislators can serve in Augusta have not been the political cure-all that their early backers promised. Instead, high turnover in the State House has resulted in a loss of policy and legislative expertise. This has been evident in recent discussions of tax reform, state budgeting and education funding.

Ironically, the people who are often leading the debates over these issues are longtime lawmakers who left the Legislature briefly when they were term-limited or merely changed chambers. These lawmakers are now more powerful than ever because they have institutional knowledge and many of the colleagues don’t. Anyone who has watched Sen. John Martin, the former Speaker of the House who many blame for term limits in the first place, debate a point of order or seen former Speaker Elizabeth Mitchell hold sway on an education bill, knows that the power of longtime legislators has not been diminished by term limits.

In a recently published book titled “Changing Members: The Maine Legislature in the Era of Term Limits,” two University of Maine political scientists note that term limits have had many detrimental effects. These range from committee chairs who don’t know how to run meetings to a more than tripling of the number of bills that have only one supporting vote in committee, resulting in a floor debate and other administrative procedures for a bill that will ultimately die. Professors Kenneth Palmer and Richard Powell also found that the number of women in the State House dropped after term limits were enacted and that many House members simply moved to the Senate when their eight years was up.

Worse, lawmakers report having to rely more on legislative staff members and lobbyists for a sense of history.

That’s why Sen. Ethan Strimling, a Portland Democrat, has sponsored a bill to eliminate term limits. It would not apply to those currently serving in the Legislature, who would still have to step aside at the end of four terms, but it would keep term limits for leadership. This is a good compromise.

Sen. Strimling’s bill got some unexpected support last week when three Republicans testified in favor of it. “My feeling has been that we always had term limits – every two years the voters have the ability to vote someone out or in to that office,” Sen. Debra Plowman, a Hampden Republican, said.

Voters have always had this power. If they believe their representative or senator is ineffective or abusing power, they can vote not to re-elect him or her.