Term limits preserve legislative process

When I was first elected to the State House in 1990, big issues loomed in our fiscal policy and in workers’ compensation. The longest-serving members of the Legislature presided over the Maine House of Representatives, the Maine Senate and their committees. State government was shut down in a partisan squabble, tempers ran to the boiling point, and it was dubbed “the session from hell.”

The stunning failure of leadership of that time yielded change, however, and 1993 was a turning point for Maine’s citizen Legislature. That year, 68 percent of Maine’s voters – more than 2 to 1 – voted to limit the amount of consecutive terms a legislator can serve in Augusta to four, or eight years. Since that landslide vote took effect in 1996, Maine’s Legislature has become more diverse, representative and accountable. That is why the No More Than 4 campaign was established to oppose Question 5 on the Nov. 6 ballot.

Maine’s term limits law is not a ban on service. The residents who created our law understood and respected that Mainers often approve of their legislator’s performance, and would not necessarily like to see them banned from service. That’s why, under our term limits law – already one of the most lenient in the country – a legislator has options once she completes her four-term stint. She is free to switch chambers, from the Senate to the House of Representatives, for example, or sit out a two-year term after she completes her four consecutive terms before returning to her old seat. This process allows lawmakers to serve as long as their community members wish, but also requires them to gain a new perspective by switching chambers or breaking from public service to live under the laws they helped create.

Question 5 seeks to increase the number of consecutive terms a legislator can serve in his or her seat in Augusta. The question will ask: “Do you favor extending term limits for Legislators from 4 to 6 terms?” A yes vote on Question 5 is a bad idea, and we have the benefit of more than a decade’s worth of history to understand why.

Each legislator now serving in the State House fits into one of three groups: legislators with no legislative experience, legislators with more than five or six terms of experience, and legislators with about two to three terms of experience. Brand-new legislators with no prior experience in state government bring new ideas to the table, but have much to learn about the legislative process. Entrenched legislators with more than five terms (or 10 years) holding office have institutional knowledge, but often tend to reject new ideas that differ from what has been done before.

This reality shows why the middle batch of legislators is so important to our citizen Legislature. Legislators with two to three terms of experience have served long enough to develop an understanding and command of the legislative process, yet still welcome and advance positive changes and new ideas, unlike their entrenched counterparts. Maine’s term limits have resulted in a greater number of legislators in this group, dramatically improving the quality of representation Maine’s residents now enjoy.

We can look to the Maine House of Representatives for proof. In the decade before term limits took effect, an average of 42 members had no legislative experience, and more than 20 legislators had served more than a decade (five or more terms). An average of only 39 legislators had two to three terms of experience.

In the decade since term limits were implemented, the membership in our House of Representatives is much different. Today, while an average of 48 representatives have no legislative experience, only five have more than a decade. And whereas an average of only 39 representatives had two to three terms of experience before term limits, an average of 54 boast that level of experience in the House of Representatives in the 10 years since term limits took effect – an increase of almost 40 percent.

What does this 40 percent increase in the number of legislators with two to three terms mean for the residents of Maine? Because term limits have eliminated entrenched lawmakers controlling the business of our citizen Legislature, legislative districts are now more equally represented. Before term limits took effect, Mainers living in districts represented by a longstanding legislator – essentially, a power broker – had the benefit of effective representation. However, Mainers in districts represented by newer legislators unable to exert the influence of their entrenched colleagues were not so fortunate. Under term limits, with career legislators no longer controlling the legislative process, each legislator has the same opportunities to influence the direction of the state and effectively represent the members of his community.

If Question 5 is approved, our citizen Legislature would be taken backward. By weakening our four consecutive term limit, this question would disregard the progress that has been made in our Legislature. Our citizen Legislature must not go back to a time when unequal representation and entrenched lawmakers controlling the governing process were the norm.

A no on Question 5 vote would preserve our term limit on legislators and ensure that those legislators can continue serving, equally and effectively, every Maine resident. Please oppose extending term limits for legislators. Vote no on Question 5.

Richard A. Bennett, a former president of the Maine Senate, served two terms in the Maine House of Representatives and four terms in the Maine Senate, before being retired by term limits. He lives in Oxford.