Terms of Limitation
Nearly 20 years later, the merits of Michigan’s congressional term limits are still being hotly debated.
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Next year will be a banner year for Michigan voters who savor fresh political winds — or red-meat politics — as three-fourths of the state’s senators and nearly a third of the representatives will be rookies in every sense of the word.
A new governor and other executives will also roll into Lansing, further altering the landscape. The impending changes are occurring largely because of term limits, which automatically broom incumbents who have served the maximum number of years allowed by the state constitution.
Backers praise term limits as a way to prevent politicians from holding elected office for life (known in certain circles as “throwing the bums out”).
But depending on whom you talk to, the forced stream of fresh Capitol faces either presents a dilemma or proves Michigan is getting the citizen legislators voters ordered up back when they approved term limits in 1992. Such restrictions, the theories go, either contribute to Michigan’s economic and business woes or represent the hope for the future.
“Not all term limits are created equal,” says Bob LaBrant, senior vice president and legal counsel for the Michigan Chamber of Commerce in Lansing. And, along with California and Arkansas, he adds, “Michigan got stuck with the most draconian term limits in the country.
“Once you do your rotation in the Legislature, you are forever forbidden to run for those offices again. We’ve institutionalized inexperience in the state House of Representatives. We’ve put people in leadership positions way before their time. If we were making wine, we’d have rotgut.”
Right or wrong, term limits get blamed for many of the state’s fiscal woes and last-minute tax decisions. One of those 11th-hour moves slapped a 22-percent tax surcharge on Michigan businesses — a surcharge LaBrant calls an “abomination”; in 2007, lawmaker procrastination pushed the state into a brief, partial shutdown — not exactly a warm invitation for businesses to make Michigan their home.
Term limits, LaBrant contends, have given bureaucrats more power — and that has the potential to hurt businesses that are subject to state regulation.
For example, LaBrant says the recently reorganized Department of Environmental Quality was very difficult to deal with when it came to permits.
“There was a lot of delay,” he says, “and, frankly, probably some degree of harassment that a number of businesses felt. They’d come out and look at your parking lot and decide you had some runoff … and that created a wetland. It was nuts.”
Former state Rep. Ruth Johnson supports term limits.
“Citizen legislators are what our founding fathers had in mind,” she says. “I probably would not have had a chance to serve unless there were term limits. Being a legislator should not be a career. I believe term limits help stop the go-along, get-along Lansing culture.”
After serving the maximum six years allowed in the state House, Johnson is now the Oakland County clerk.
Sarah Hubbard says that, over the years, many members of the Detroit Regional Chamber have seen term limits in a negative light.“What bothers business is the inability to create relationships that allow tough problems to be solved,” says Hubbard, the chamber’s senior vice president of government relations. “There’s a fundamental lack of trust among legislators. We believe term limits contribute to that problem.”
So does Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop, who says trust can be in short supply in Lansing.
“That’s too bad, because we deal with some pretty complex issues that require members to do a lot of trusting,” he says. “If you don’t have that, you won’t get a lot of the big things done.
“When you think about it, these folks come and they know they have a limited shelf life. They’re willing to crash and burn for a cause because they know they may not be back in the future, negotiating with that same party.”
In 1992, voters amended the state constitution to create some of the most restrictive term limits in the country (59 percent of those who cast ballots voted yes). They set a maximum for representatives (three, two-year terms) and senators (two, four-year terms). Also restricted are the terms of the governor, lieutenant governor, secretary of state, and attorney general (two, four-year terms each).
Critics consider Michigan’s rules tough because after a politician serves six years in the Senate and eight in the House, he is forever barred from holding either job again. Other states limit only a certain number of consecutive terms, allowing for an eventual return to office after skipping an election. Oklahoma limits its legislators to 12 years in office, but allows them to serve them all in one chamber or to split the time between the two.
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