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Term Issue Makes Ballot Measure Would Brand Those Who Oppose Term-Limits On Ballot

By Betsy Z. Russell betsyr@spokesman.com(208) 336-2854

It won’t impose any term limits, but a new term limits initiative qualified for the November ballot Friday.

The measure, backed by a Washington, D.C. group that is pushing similar initiatives in 15 states, orders members of Congress and the state Legislature to support the group’s proposed term-limits amendment to the U.S. Constitution. If they don’t, the words “DISREGARDED VOTERS’ INSTRUCTION ON TERM LIMITS” would be printed next to their names on any ballot.

Idaho voters strongly supported a term-limits initiative in 1994 that was backed by the same group, U.S. Term Limits. It limited terms of elected officials from Congress down to local school boards. But the U.S. Supreme Court said the part dealing with Congress was unconstitutional. So now Idaho has term limits only for state and local offices.

The latest initiative qualified for the ballot largely by using paid signature-gatherers, said Donna Weaver of Hayden Lake, campaign chairwoman. They, along with some volunteers, collected 47,608 valid signatures in only eight weeks - 9,649 of them in Kootenai County.

A semi-retired businesswoman who founded a corporate finance and investment firm in California, Weaver moved to Hayden Lake in 1992. She said she was the single largest donor to the initiative campaign, giving about $35,000.

“It was one of those things where you’d say ‘term limits’ and people would say ‘Where do I sign?”’ Weaver said.

But the Idaho attorney general’s office, in an April 1 opinion, said courts probably would find the initiative unconstitutional. It orders the government to put a negative label next to a candidate’s name on the ballot, solely because the candidate doesn’t endorse the group’s version of term limits.

“It is highly doubtful the state can use its power to seek to manipulate election results by slanting what appears on the ballot,” wrote Attorney General Al Lance. “Such conduct on the part of the state is improper. Further, the potential is high for the voters to be misled by the placement of certain pejorative words adjacent to a candidate’s name.”

The initiative calls for a three-term limit for the U.S. House and a two-term limit for the Senate, but allows incumbents two more terms after the proposed Constitutional amendment takes effect. Any members of Congress who don’t prove their support for those provisions in eight ways - including votes in committee - would face the ballot warning.

Challengers, both for Congress and the state Legislature, would have to sign a pledge supporting the proposed amendment. Otherwise, the notation “DECLINED TO PLEDGE TO SUPPORT TERM LIMITS” would appear next to their names on the ballot.

Incumbent state legislators would be ordered to call for a constitutional convention so term limits can be added to the Constitution, or face the “DISREGARDED VOTERS” ballot warning.

The secretary of state’s office would have to decide who gets the ballot warnings and who doesn’t.

Weaver said the drive to qualify the initiative for the ballot cost $70,000 to $80,000.

In addition to her own contributions, she said, “we’ve gotten contributions from other term limits campaigns.”

She dismissed Lance’s concerns about the initiative, saying that in other states, “Several other attorneys general have had no problem with this.”

Weaver, who serves on five corporate boards, said this is the first time she’s been active in a political campaign.

“I just got so tired of business as usual in Washington - having to wait since 1969 for a balanced budget,” she said. “Somebody has to do something about it.”

, DataTimes MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: BALLOT MEASURES Idahoans will decide on four initiatives in November’s election. The measures that qualified for the ballot by Friday’s deadline are: One Percent: Would limit property taxes to 1 percent of assessed value after exemptions, shift public school funding from the property tax to state taxes, and limit local government budget growth to a cost-of-living index. Bear baiting: Would ban the use of bait and hounds in hunting bear, and eliminate the spring season for bear hunting. Nuclear waste: Would invalidate Gov. Phil Batt’s nuclear waste agreement with the federal government. Term limits: Would order members of Congress and the state Legislature, along with their challengers, to support a term-limits amendment to the U.S. Constitution or face a warning by their names on the ballot.

This sidebar appeared with the story: BALLOT MEASURES Idahoans will decide on four initiatives in November’s election. The measures that qualified for the ballot by Friday’s deadline are: One Percent: Would limit property taxes to 1 percent of assessed value after exemptions, shift public school funding from the property tax to state taxes, and limit local government budget growth to a cost-of-living index. Bear baiting: Would ban the use of bait and hounds in hunting bear, and eliminate the spring season for bear hunting. Nuclear waste: Would invalidate Gov. Phil Batt’s nuclear waste agreement with the federal government. Term limits: Would order members of Congress and the state Legislature, along with their challengers, to support a term-limits amendment to the U.S. Constitution or face a warning by their names on the ballot.