This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, March 6, 2013 - The national Virginia-based group, U.S. Term Limits, is entering the debate against the proposed ballot measure in the Missouri General Assembly that would revamp the state’s term limit restrictions.
Under HJR 4 -- which is before the state Senate after passing the state House on Tuesday -- a state legislator would still be restricted to 16 years overall. But HJR4 would allow the person to serve most or all of those years in the House or Senate.
Now, Missouri’s term limit laws – passed in 1992 – restrict legislators to no more than eight years in either chamber.
HJR4 would require a statewide vote, and presumably would be placed on the 2014 ballot.
U.S. Term Limits president Philip Blumel opposes the change: “HJR 4 is just another of a long series of attempts by some politicians to cling to office by increasing their tenure in the state capitol and should be rejected overwhelming by the state Senate.”
Blumel noted that the current restrictions had been approved by more than 70 percent of Missouri voters in 1992. (State voters later approved campaign-donation limits by a similar margin in 1994, but those were tossed out by legislators in 2008.)
“Time and time again, legislators come up with creative ways to keep themselves in office longer,” Blumel said. “HJR 4 is just another of these craven power grasps. The people of Missouri are best served by citizen legislators, and the state Senate needs to just say no to HJR4.”
It’s unclear how active U.S. Term Limits might get involved in Missouri, should the measure end up on the ballot. In previous years, the group has spent money targeting certain officials who opposed term limits or declined to abide by them.
