Suit Puts Term Limits In Court Top State Lawmakers Want 1996 Initiative Struck Down
A bipartisan coalition of state lawmakers, headed by House Speaker Michael Simpson and Senate President Pro Tem Jerry Twiggs, asked the Idaho Supreme Court on Monday to void the 1996 federal term limits initiative.
The lawsuit claims the proposition, supported by 55 percent of the voters last November, violates the state and federal constitutions.
By requiring the state to identify on the ballot any candidate who has not done everything possible to require term limits for members of Congress, the suit contends, the state is forced to sanction the political belief that term limits are appropriate over the political belief that they are not, thus illegally squelching political debate.
“People shouldn’t lose their freedom of speech because they decide to run for the Legislature,” said Joe Bauman, an American Civil Liberties Union cooperating attorney among those representing the legislators.
No timetable was established for resolving the challenge.
Supporters of the initiative claim it is necessary to carry out the intent of the 1994 term limits initiative that slapped restrictions on service for all public officials from Congress down to school boards. While the state and local term limits stand, the U.S. Supreme Court voided the congressional limits.
“How many times do we have to say Y-E-S to term limits before these career politicians listen?” asked Donna Weaver, the Hayden Lake businesswoman who led the 1996 initiative drive.
“To have the speaker and the president pro tem join with the ACLU is a sad day for Idaho,” she said. “They are members of the permanent class of career politicians seeking to overturn the overwhelming majority of people who would like to see rotation in office.”
Critics maintain that if the term limit ballot wording is allowed, there would be nothing to stop initiatives identifying candidates as for or against abortion, taxes, the death penalty, nuclear waste storage or any other issue a special interest might raise.
Simpson and Twiggs represent Bingham and Butte counties - voters in both opposed the 1994 term limits legislation. They were joined by Republican Sen. Laird Noh of Kimberly, Democratic Sens. Bruce Sweeney of Lewiston and Marguerite McLaughlin of Orofino, Democratic Rep. Wendy Jaquet of Ketchum and Republican Reps. Maynard Miller of Moscow, Jim Kempton of Albion, Golden Linford of Rexburg and Reed Hansen of Idaho Falls.
The suit seeks an order barring the secretary of state from carrying out the requirement that ballots identify candidates without the proper credentials, including pressing for a constitutional convention, as having “Disregarded Voters’ Instructions On Term Limits.”
In their cases, Simpson and Twiggs argued that voting for term limits disregards their voters’ instructions.
And Twiggs, who is retiring after finishing his seventh term, would like to see the 1994 term limits law repealed. He argues that an eight-year limit on county officials will deter qualified candidates from seeking offices like sheriff or clerk.
Others point out that in the past 10 years 80 percent of the state Legislature has changed, indicating little need for term limits there as well.