Arnold changes sides on term limits
by geo on Jan.22, 2008, under U.S. Politics
From a NEWSMAX insider report:
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has done an about-face and expressed support for a proposition changing his state’s term-limits law.
The Feb. 5 ballot measure would allow many sitting lawmakers to run for re-election this year instead of being forced out of the legislature.
As a candidate in 2003, Schwarzenegger backed California’s term-limits law as protection against “special interests” getting too much power. But in an essay published in the Los Angeles Times on Tuesday, Schwarzenegger said the law “went too far.”
“Under the current system, our elected officials are not given the time they need to reach their full potential as public servants,” Schwarzenegger wrote.
“Imagine what would happen if we told a big-city police chief or a sheriff he could stay in the job just long enough to start mastering it and then had to move on.”
Proposition 93 would reduce the total number of years a legislator can serve from 14 to 12. But it also would permit lawmakers to serve all of their time in either the Assembly or the state Senate. The existing law limits them to six years in the lower house and eight in the upper house.
The existing law has created a “relentless campaign cycle,” Schwarzenegger wrote in explaining his change of position, saying the cycle makes lawmakers more dependent on lobbyists and campaign contributors.


