County Officials Want Term Limits Eased Elected Officers Say Local Voters Should Have Option To Eliminate Rule

County officials in north-central Idaho say the Legislature should make changing the state’s term limits law one of its top priorities.

Each county should let its voters decide whether term limits should apply to local officials, they say.

“I would like to see the opportunity to check with the public to see if that’s really what they wanted,” Clearwater County Commissioner Earl Pickett told lawmakers at a Lewiston meeting.

“We already have term limits,” Nez Perce County Assessor Daniel Anderson contended. “If in four years you’re not doing your job, you’re out of here.”

County officials from court clerks to commissioners warned that term limits would keep qualified people from running if they know they will be out of a job in eight years.

The first term usually is spent learning the county’s business, Idaho County Clerk Rose Gehring said. “It takes four years to figure it all out.”

The chairman of the Nez Perce County Commission, J.R. Van Tassel, agreed. “It’s not like going into small business or private industry. There are many, many laws you have to deal with on a daily basis.”

Sen. Bruce Sweeney, D-Lewiston, expects the Legislature to discuss term limits.

“There is a lot of sentiment out there now,” he said. “I believe it needs to be brought back.”

County officials also want action on a proposal to create a statewide public defender’s office to deal with costly and time-consuming appeals.

Idaho County has spent about $321,000 on the trials and appeals for Bryan and Mark Lankford. The Texas brothers were convicted in 1984 of the robbery and killing of a Marine Corps captain and his wife at a forest campground 15 miles southeast of Grangeville.

Bryan Lankford has appealed his latest sentence of life in prison and his older brother is appealing his death penalty.

Criminal appeals are filed either by the defendant or by the state and are handled by the attorney general’s office.

“I don’t believe the general public is aware of the costs incurred after a conviction and sentencing in court,” said Rep. Frank Bruneel, R-Lewiston. “From my viewpoint, it’s an important concept you’ve got here.”

Counties have pre-filed bills to increase from $3 to $8 the amount they can charge to file documents and to increase from $35 to $45 the amount they are paid each day they hold a state prisoner in a county jail.