Many of the players in this town, from the governor on down regret
the day they did it. They supported the nation's most restrictive term
limit law and now they see the miscalculation they made.
"Worse mistake I ever made," the governor confesses and she's got
plenty of company.
The democratic chair of the House Judiciary committee which is
considering a plan to extend term limits, used the same line but this
mea culpa is not confined to Democrats. It is bi-partisan.
Take Gop Rep. Rick Jones who is about as conservative as it gets.
"Term limits are too short. Six years is simply too short," he
observes with six years of experience under his belt in the Michigan
House.
Rep. Eileen Kowal, and other GOP conservative from Oakland County
also sees the errors of her ways. "Experience and knowledge are
valuable," the first termer concludes.
And on the list goes.
Rep. Joe Haveman, yet another Republican right-winger from Holland.
Yes he was a yes vote in 1992 but now says, term limits is a "mistake
and in its present form it has not served the public well."
Tell that to the public where the majority of folks figure terms
limits is working just grand, thank you very much.
"I know they (feel that way)" confesses third termer Rep. Pam
Byrnes (D-Chelsea). But "I don't think they really understand the
implication of constantly changing who is running their government."
She is spot on, but term limit backers dismiss such sentiment as
self-serving and to be expected from career politicians who are about
as popular these days as the guy who offered Tom Izzo thirty million
smackers to leave MSU!
And there in lies the challenge. Even though there are the votes
on the committee to send the term limit revision to the house floor, is
there the political will…no, make it political guts, to take on the
majority of voters and basically tell them they are wrong?
In an election year, the chances of that are slim and none and
Slim just left town.
Term limits are here to stay. Too bad all the folks who have
changed their minds didn't think of that when they voted in the first
place.