Term-Limits Backer Likes Nw Chance

The head of U.S. Term Limits, stumping in Washington state Tuesday for congressional term limits, predicted the Northwest will be among the vanguard of states demanding a constitutional amendment.

But a leader of the opposition said Washington voters are losing their infatuation with term limits and will shoot down the latest effort.

Paul Jacob, executive director of the Washington, D.C.-based U.S. Term Limits, cautiously predicted approval of citizen initiatives on the ballot this fall in Washington, Oregon, Idaho and a dozen other states.

In recent years, 23 states have approved limits on state and federal officeholders, but the U.S. Supreme Court last year threw out congressional limits. The high court says it would take a constitutional amendment to impose limits on Congress.

Jacob said it’s a sure bet that incumbents will never vote to limit their own terms, the “Contract with America” notwithstanding.

“They all have a built-in conflict of interest,” he said in an interview at the Capitol. “We have to remove this issue from Congress.”

Polls show public support of between 70 percent and 80 percent for term limits, but opposition in Congress easily hits those levels, he said.

The term-limits plan is to move on two fronts, both aimed at putting pressure on Congress to act or to move toward a constitutional convention forced by the states. An immediate feature would be a notation in the state Voters’ Pamphlet for candidates and incumbents who do not support the term-limits plan.