“Politicians continue to fail the will
of the people. The Montana State
Legislature’s latest attack will not go
unanswered.” – USTL President Philip
Blumel
January 20, 2009: Today US Term Limits President, Philip Blumel issued the following statement:
"I was disappointed to hear that The Montana House State Administration Committee has scheduled a hearing on HB 174, a bill which would extend term limits for members of each chamber from eight to sixteen years.
"This is clearly contrary to the will of the people. Polling from October of 2008 shows that 83 percent of Americans nationwide believe in term limits on their elected officials.
"This result is confirmed by recent electoral results for term limits. In all four statewide referenda on term limits over the past 14 months, the voters enacted or reaffirmed state-level term limits.
"In November 2007, a move to gut term limits was defeated easily in Maine. In February 2008, voters in California defeated a shell game, much like this one, that would have lengthened term limits. In November 2008 in South Dakota, voters defeated, by a three-to-one margin a measure which would have eliminated term limits on the state legislature. Also in November, voters in Louisiana overwhelmingly passed a measure that placed term limits on numerous statewide appointed positions.
"Clearly, the voters embrace of term limits is as enthusiastic as ever. This should be no surprise as public confidence in elected officials is at an all-time low. Certainly a nakedly self-interested effort to subvert the voters will only serve to justify their cynicism.
"When members of the Montana House State Administration Committee vote on Wednesday, I certainly hope they will place the will of their constituency first, and reject any effort to amend or repeal term limits."
