Term Limits Law Facing Challenge Coeur D’Alene Attorneys Prepare Suit For Coalition

Two Coeur d’Alene attorneys are preparing a legal challenge of Idaho’s term limits law for a coalition led by the Association of Idaho Cities.

Attorneys Jerry Mason and Scott Reed say the voter-enacted initiative was misleading because it doesn’t actually limit the number of terms elected officials may serve - it limits the number of times they may appear on the ballot.

That “denies rights of access to the election ballot of certain individuals based solely upon prior public service,” the association said in a news release.

The association believes that violates constitutional guarantees of suffrage and equal protection under the law, according to Ken Harward, AIC executive director.

Mason said possible plaintiffs include county commissioners, county clerks, assessors, coroners, prosecutors, treasurers, mayors, City Council members and school trustees.

Some county commissioners will be prevented from appearing on the ballot next fall under the law. Other officials are affected in subsequent years, including state legislators.

Idaho voters enacted the term limits initiative in 1994, seeking to limit terms in office for everyone from Congress down to local officials. But the U.S. Supreme Court said individual states can’t place conditions on Congress, so that portion of the initiative was voided, leaving Idaho with limits only on state and local officials.

Term limits supporters backed legislation last year to allow residents of cities, counties or school districts to vote to remove the limits from their local officials, but the legislation failed as lawmakers held out for a full repeal. But Gov. Dirk Kempthorne said he wouldn’t support a full repeal, because the people enacted the law.

Some legislative leaders this year are saying they’ll wait to see what happens with the lawsuit, rather than try to change the law this year for county commissioners or other local officials, such as unpaid school trustees.