Posted on 08/08/2006 12:15:03 PM PDT by calcowgirl
A leading figure in the national term-limits movement arrived in Sacramento Monday to head off the ongoing discussion to alter legislative terms. U.S. Term Limits President Paul Jacob said if the Legislature tries to tweak the current term-limits law, his group will fund an initiative that would eliminate legislators' tax-free, $153-per-day stipend, and force any future legislative pay to be approved by a popular vote.
"If they mess around with term limits, we will be much more inclined to say we need to go on offense," said Jacob. "The public has made up their mind but we continue to get legislators who ignore the public and decided they are going to do what's best for their careers."
U.S. Term Limits has spent millions on initiative campaigns across the country for more than a decade. In 2002, when then-Senate President Pro Tem John Burton, D-San Francisco, qualified a term-limits extension for the California ballot, Americans for Limited Terms, a sister organization, poured $1 million to defeat the measure.
"We will fight any effort to hoodwink the voters and mess around with term limits," says Jacob, who works closely with Howard Rich, a New York developer and driving force behind Proposition 90, an eminent-domain measure on the November ballot.
A draft of the per-diem initiative has already been submitted to the attorney general's office, where it is awaiting an official ballot title and summary. The measure would require any future pay increases granted by the California Citizens Compensation Commission be approved by a popular vote. It would also stipulate that legislators receive a housing allowance--not to "exceed the median monthly rental cost" for a single family--in lieu of the current per-diem system.
At a press conference Monday, Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez, D-Los Angeles, who has been leading the behind-the-scenes push to amend term limits, said he remains committed to the cause.
"I think that would be good for the Legislature. I think that would be good to build institutional memory and the knowledge base legislators need in order to make important decisions that affect Californians each and every day," said Núñez.
Under Proposition 140, approved by voters in 1990, California lawmakers can serve a maximum of three two-year terms in the state Assembly and two four-year terms in the Senate. Of late, the most bantered-about proposal would allow legislators to serve a total of up to 12 years either house.
Núñez said he is considering creating a conference committee to hammer out the details of a possible combined term-limits and redistricting proposal this month and has received the go-ahead from the Republican legislative leadership.
"That is the direction they want to go in as well," he said.
Núñez said he had not heard of the Jacobs initiative, but said he would not be swayed either way by the threat.
The reception for amending term limits has been more lukewarm in the upper house, where Senate leader Don Perata has expressed skepticism for the idea.
"Term limits, if it is done by the Legislature, will be tremendously scrutinized," the Oakland Democrat said last Thursday. He sounded particularly skeptical over the concept of pair redistricting and term-limits reform. " I am not looking for the fusion of the two issues at all," he added.
Jacob says the reason Perata is dubious is that "he can read a poll." During his 24-hour tour de California, Jacob is distributing a private poll, conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, of likely California voters showing that around two-thirds of likely voters disapprove of altering term limits. A whooping 67 percent said they would vote to eliminate legislators' tax-free per diem, which can be worth more than $30,000-a-year. The poll has a margin of error of 4.5 percent.
"This is not your career. It is not about pay and perks and privileges and per diems, it is about representing the people," says Jacob. "This initiative is great public policy."
Richard Rider, a libertarian and chair of the San Diego Tax Fighters, is the author of the initiative and is currently seeking major donors.
"The key to this of course is if we can raise the funding," said Rider, who has been in contact with Jacob. "I spoke to some sugar daddies and the key first step was to file something."
Rider filed the initiative with the attorney general last week and said he hopes to qualify the measure--at an estimated cost of $1.5- to $2 million--with or without the support of U.S. Term Limits.
"It is extremely popular," said Rider. "Nobody is going to throw stones at you when you ask for signatures and if it gets on the ballot it is all but certain to pass."
But for now, Jacob is using the threat of fully funding the measure to stop the progress of the ongoing term-limits discussion.
"It is safe to say that it is a lot more likely this will be on the ballot if they do something with term limits," he said.
There should be an initiative to make the California legislature part time. It already functions as part-time -- legislators sit around and do very little for about three months, and then when the deadlines come for committee action on bills, there's a flurry of activity, only to go back to doing little until the next legislative deadline approaches. Even in a state as big as California, there is nothing that justifies a full-time legislature.
Agreed. But with full time staff to keep an eye on things while they are gone.
I'd go for that.
Should these absentia staffers be paid, political appointees or state employees selected from the general pool?
whew! thanks.
The Morons' Learn on the Job bill?
I have a better idea. Let this "knowledge base" be a pre-requisite for qualification to run. A high school diploma and a minimum IQ of 90 ought to do it.
As for "institutional memory"? Let's not joke around. All this means is learning all the methods to steal the taxpayers blind.
((Go Israel, Go! Slap 'Em Down Hezbullies.)
((Go Israel, Go! Slap 'Em Down Hezbullies.)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.