Saved From Term Limits, Most Incumbents Return

Depending on your perspective, last week’s county commissioner elections either provided another indication of steadily declining popular support for term limits or more proof of the power of incumbency.

Challengers unseated just six of 28 incumbents who would have been unable to appear on the May 23 ballot under Idaho’s 1994 term limits initiative had 6th District Judge Randy Smith not blocked that law’s implementation for a year.

Kootenai County Commissioner Dick Panabaker won re-election last week, beating three GOP challengers. Bonner County’s Dale Van Stone and Benewah County’s Jack Buell - both Democrats - face opponents in the November general election.

The only incumbent in whose race term limits became a prominent issue easily defeated two challengers. Democrat Tom Katsilometes, a Bannock County commissioner for 18 years, said the results made it clear local elected officials should not be subject to arbitrary limitations on how long they serve.

“It tells me that the voters want to make a determination on whether people stay in office, or don’t stay in office, only at the voting booth,” said Katsilometes, who defeated Bill Lloyd and Carol Gunter for the nomination.

“Term limits was a glitzy issue that was frankly designed for the federal legislators and partially for the state legislators. The outcome of the votes statewide reflect that.”

Don Morgan of Post Falls, volunteer chairman of Citizens for Term Limits Idaho Campaign, said he drew precisely the opposite conclusion from the fact that so many longtime incumbents faced opponents.

“Yes, most of them lost, because the power of incumbency is very real,” said Morgan, who has been critical of Panabaker’s decision to seek re-election. “It shows the true need for term limits, and the number of people who got involved this time who wouldn’t normally have gotten involved showed the potential benefits.”

Morgan had described Panabaker’s candidacy as “an outrageous violation of the will of the people,” but the commissioner’s primary election opponents scarcely made an issue of term limits.

Fifty-five county commissioners would have been denied even the opportunity to seek new terms under the 1994 law that Smith blocked on March 17, just four days before the candidate-filing period began this spring. Four of those retired or resigned and 23 chose not to run again, said Dan Chadwick, executive director of the Idaho Association of Counties.

That left 28 veteran commissioners saved from term limits by Smith’s order. Thirteen were unopposed in the primary and Katsilometes was among nine who survived opposition. The six who lost were among 11 incumbents defeated overall, which Chadwick said is fairly typical for a primary election.

With 88 commissioner positions in the balance - two for each of Idaho’s 44 counties - he said there clearly was little hue and cry among voters for new blood in county leadership.

“When it comes to local government, term limits is at the ballot box,” Chadwick said. “People are happy with their own local officials. And if they’re not happy with them, then obviously they turn them out during the elections.”

That was the fate of Jerome County commissioners Roy Prescott and John Toolson Jr., both defeated by Republican challengers in campaigns where Prescott said term limits was not a factor.

He said low voter turnout and an aggressive campaign by challengers to get their supporters to the polls crystallized opposition to the incumbents that was based on agricultural issues and whether commissioner should be a full-time job.

Other longtime incumbents were defeated in Bear Lake, Bingham, Gooding and Teton counties.

The 1994 initiative limits the service of county commissioners and school board members to six years in any 11-year period and all other state, county and city officers to eight years in any 15-year period.

Term-limit advocates have agreed that local officials could be excluded, but lawmakers have been reluctant to eliminate them from the restrictions because of the pressure local officials create for broader repeal, especially in rural areas where finding people willing and capable of serving is difficult.

Plans to repeal the entire law last year were thwarted when Gov. Dirk Kempthorne threatened a veto of any legislation running counter to the apparent will of voters. But since more than 59-percent support carried the 1994 term limits initiative to victory, three related ballot measures in 1996 and 1998 were backed by just over 56 percent, under 55 percent and about 53 percent of voters.

In suspending the law for a year, Smith found that the 21 local officials challenging the law had more than the required reasonable likelihood of prevailing in their bid to block enforcement of the service restriction as unconstitutional.

A hearing is planned next month before Smith on competing motions from local officials and the state for a ruling, but the Idaho Supreme Court ultimately will decide the issue.

“That’s a sad fact,” said term limits supporter Laird Maxwell, chairman of Idahoans for Tax Reform. “Citizens passed term limits by initiative. If it’s going to be repealed, that’s where the battleground ought to be.”