Better To Bite The Bullet Now

Sat., Sept. 19, 1998

D.F. Oliveria For The Editorial

U.S. Rep. George Nethercutt is approaching the moment of truth. If re-elected, he’ll have to discuss whether he wants to serve a fourth term, breaking his 1994 promise that he’d limit himself to three.

Dale Neugebauer, campaign manager for the Spokane Republican, prefers that the painful admission be postponed as long as possible, say until 2000, when Nethercutt could run for a fourth term. “He hasn’t broken a pledge,” said Neugebauer, “he’s only served two terms.”

But Nethercutt’s refusal to sign a “pledge” not to seek more than three terms shouts volumes. It also has made him a target for U.S. Term Limits, which poured some $300,000 into his successful 1994 campaign against former House Speaker Tom Foley. The organization now is running full-page newspaper ads against Nethercutt.

Rather than string 5th District voters along for two more years, Nethercutt should say now if he plans to break his promise. After all, he won’t be the first outsider to ride a popular issue into office only to discover that it hurt his district, and him, once in office. An admission now not only would be bold, it would defuse the controversy as an issue for a possible 2000 re-election bid.

Unquestionably, Nethercutt took full advantage of term limits to edge Foley. He made his pledge to serve three terms, while U.S. Term Limits beat up Foley for joining in a lawsuit that eventually overturned Washington’s voter-approved term limits. Nethercutt won by only 2,000 votes out of almost 200,000 cast.

However, Republicans had a change of heart about term limits after the 1994 elections when they won control of Congress. They “discovered” that seniority was valuable because it enables congressmen from small states and rural districts to accrue clout to better serve their constituents. They also discovered that experience can make a lawmaker more knowledgeable, more skilled, more effective. Issues that seem simple on the campaign trail often turn out to be more complicated when confronted in the trenches of policy making. Experience is an advantage in statesmanship, as it is in any other field.

Nethercutt is right if he now disapproves of term limits. The 1994 election proved voters don’t need term limits to turn a party or an individual out of power. However, this issue will dog him until he drives a stake through it. The sooner he does so, the better.

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