Liberals for Term Limits ---- By John H. Fund
One reason is that term limits would open up politics to many people now excluded from office by career incumbents. These include blacks, other minorities, and women. Most of the authors of Washington state's term limit are liberal Democrats who want to break up "the old-boy network." One of the authors, Sherry Bockwinkel, says "You won't see white incumbents hanging on to districts that long ago became largely minority." "Incumbency is the glass ceiling of American politics," says Kay Slaughter, the Democratic candidate in a special U.S. House election in Virginia yesterday. She thinks term limits will give women more opportunities in politics; her GOP opponent refused to support federal term limits. Former Rep. Shirley Chisholm, who in 1972 was the first black to run for a majorparty presidential nomination, says "longterm incumbency is a big reason that Congress no longer works and isn't representative. We need a lot more turnover." Colorado Rep. Ben Nighthorse Campbell, the only American Indian in Congress, backed a term limit measure last year that restricted his own tenure. Term limits for Congress have been supported by some of history's most prominent Democrats. Harry Truman and John F. Kennedy both endorsed the idea while they were president. Today, former California Governor Jerry Brown says advocacy of term limits is a key element in his populist presidential campaign against a "constipated" political system. "Term limits are a castor oil that democracy needs to take," he says. Last year, as head of the California Democratic Party he refused to sign a party slate mailer against term limits. "I saw incumbents spend their time fund-raising and worrying about how to stay in office. It's time more candidates thought of politics as a calling instead of a career." Mr. Brown says arguments that legislative staff and the unelected bureaucracy would gain power under term limits are simply proof that "we must curb the excessive power of those political players as well." He notes both groups opposed term limits in his home state; the California initiative included budget cuts that retired more than 700 legislative staffers. Other former Democratic governors who favor term limits include Vermont's Madeleine Kunin and Colorado's RichardLamm. "Breaking the gridlock of incumbency could throw the doors open to new people and new ideas that would make politics rewarding, meaningful and fun," says Ms. Kunin. "The system needs a kick in the rear," says Mr. Lamm. "Term limits have flaws, but they will provide badly needed competition." While many prominent Democrats support term limits, party "apparatchiks" are dead set against them. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has quietly put out the word that it will blacklist political consultants who advise candidates to back term limits and has told pollsters not to ask term-limit questions. Intimidation like that has slowed support for term limits among Democratic officeholders, but there are exceptions. In Massachusetts, the state's Democratic attorney general and secretary of state both favor term limits. In Texas, Gov. Ann Richards says she "would be glad" to sign a bill limiting congressional and legislative terms. Lt. Gov. Bob Bullock also leans in favor of term limits. Journalists are under fewer constraints than elected officials in expressing enthusiasm for term limits. Among those who have, and who will never be accused of being card-carrying Republicans, are: Washington Post columnist Richard Cohen, syndicated columnist Richard Reeves, the National Journal's Neal Peirce and Time magazine's Michael Kramer. Hendrik Hertzberg, a former speechwriter for Jimmy Carter who edited the New Republic until last month, agrees term limits would mean a loss of some distinguished legislators. However, he concludes "it would be a cost worth paying to be rid of the much larger number of time-servers who have learned nothing from longevity in office except cynicism, complacency and a sense of diminished possibility." Columnist Ellen Goodman says "We have to learn once again that ideal public service is, by definition, temporary." She thinks the current Congress proves "the politically privileged class has become more isolated than experienced." Such recent body-blows to Congress as Kitegate and the Clarence Thomas hearings have convinced some liberal media outlets to reevaluate term limits. The liberal Seattle Times, Washington state's largest newspaper, stunned its readers by endorsing term limits. WCVB-TV, the ABC affiliate in Boston, has often had its liberal editorials called "the Boston Globe of the airwaves." In April, it denounced term limits as "the latest anti-government fad to sweep the country." Last month, the station made a highly unusual about-face and endorsed term limits for Congress: "We're not going to get {leadership} till we have a massive infusion of new blood." Among Democratic Party activists, James Calaway of Texas is typical of those who now favor term limits. Currently the national treasurer for the American Civil Liberties Union, Mr. Calaway was also chairman of the national Democratic Party's $15 million "Victory Fund" in 1988. He says term limits would mean "we're governed by citizens who go home after their service and not permanent, elitist people who never leave office." Other Texas Democrats who have joined him include Frances "Sissy" Farenthold, who cochaired George McGovern's 1972 national campaign, and Leonel Castillo, Jimmy Carter's director of the Immigration and Naturalization Service. Neo-liberals, who believe that centralized bureaucracies are the biggest obstacle to reforming government, are also warming to term limits. David Osborne, who became sort of a guru for neo-liberals with his book "Laboratories of Democracy," speaks for many reform-minded liberals when he says, "Term limits are necessary to shake things up and disrupt the careerist mindset that leads to so much cowardice in elected officials." While Speaker Tom Foley reacts to term limits the way that Linus in the comic strip "Peanuts" would if his security blanket were taken away, some House Democrats think his concern that term limits would result in large GOP gains in Congress is a fantasy. "People who say term limits are a Republican plot to oust incumbents should know that a majority of open seats are won by Democrats," says Rep. Andy Jacobs of Indiana. Indeed, the Democratic Party could actually be helped by term limits, according to former Oklahoma state legislator Cleta Mitchell, a self-described "liberal feminist" who works with the Denver-based term limit group Americans Back in Charge. "Democrats must offer voters more than the simple powers of incumbency," she says. "So long as our party is dominated by cynical veterans it will turn off the young people who are our party's future." No one suggests the drive to enact term limits will be easy -- especially in states that ban voter initiatives. But there are already signs that business lobbies, labor unions and other term limit opponents are relying more on convincing judges -- starting with Florida's heavily politicized state Supreme Court -- to overturn state term limits than on trying to convince voters to reject the idea. The leading anti-term limit group, Let the People Decide, has closed its Washington, D.C., offices and been reduced to a skeleton staff. --- Mr. Fund is a Journal editorial writer.
california initiative;liberal democrats;american politics;democratic officeholders;career incumbents;political system;term limits;special u.s. house election;term limit measure