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Jim Brunelle 10/04/2007

Maine voters generally favor the idea of placing restrictions on the length of time lawmakers can serve in Augusta but they don't really waste a lot of time thinking or arguing about the pros and cons. They just instinctively believe it's probably a good idea.

So when an initiated referendum bankrolled by the late philanthropist Elizabeth Noyce proposed limiting state legislators to four consecutive two-year terms in either chamber, voters found the idea appealing.

The measure was handily ratified by a 2-1 margin in 1993 and took effect with the 1996 election. It's been debated by pundits, political officeholders, judges and wonks ever since. But the voters have never really looked back.

We are about to face the issue again Nov. 6. The Legislature earlier this year passed a measure that would put before voters the option to increase the number of allowable terms from four to six, that is, from eight to 12 years.

The idea is to overcome the demonstrable shortcomings of the current law -- particularly a weakening of the legislative branch through rapid turnover of leadership while simultaneously shifting power to the executive branch, government bureaucrats, lobbyists and legislative staffers -- without actually repealing term limits as such.

It is billed as a compromise between those who think the current law is just dandy and those who believe any term limits law is both undemocratic and unrepublican by nature, restricting as it does the choices of local voters and otherwise dictating by law who may or may not offer themselves as candidates for public office.

Yet, Maine voters repeatedly demonstrate a certain ardor for term limits, even the most foolishly conceived versions.

In 1994, a year after they first ratified the Noyce initiative by a 2-1 margin, voters endorsed by 3-2 another initiated measure imposing term limits on members of Maine's congressional delegation.

When that second law was declared unconstitutional in federal court, backers of term limits came up with an even goofier idea: the so-called "scarlet letter" proposal.

This one, which appeared on the referendum ballot in 1996, sought to punish Senate and House incumbents who failed to support term limits by requiring that the phrase, "Disregarded Voter Instructions on Term Limits," be printed next to their names on ballots in any subsequent elections.

That one also was found to be constitutionally insupportable, even though Maine voters had approved it by a lopsided margin.

Term limits do not have a huge effect on legislative turnover; current law is maintaining the historical range of turnover from one-fourth to one-third every two years. The result, however, has been essentially to drain the pool of experience from which an effective body of leadership can be drawn and established.

Since term limits went into effect, the Legislature has had six different House speakers and five different Senate presidents.

Expanding the number of allowable terms could help restore the balance of power among all three branches of government without opening the way to any long-term concentration of individual power within the legislative branch.

The changes wrought by term limits since 1996 have been gradual and not easily detectable. But they have been almost exclusively adverse.

I don't imagine most voters consider such subtleties when making decisions about term limits in the voting booth. Many, if not most, will use the opportunity simply to register a general lack of confidence in currently elected politicians.

And that would be a shame because expanding term limits wouldn't guarantee getting better legislators, but it would give us a shot at getting a better legislative system.

It wouldn't mean a return to the unbuttoned, dynastic arrangement that led to the passage of term limits in the first place, but it would open the way to restoring a more fairly balanced share of power to the people's branch of government.

It's truly worth thinking about, even if only a little.

Jim Brunelle is a weekly columnist and has been commenting on Maine issues for more than 40 years. He lives in Cape Elizabeth and can be reached at jbrune@maine.rr.com.

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