I voted against term limits. Elections should be about change only if a constituency desires it. That said, I learned some pretty interesting things about term limits in the 2001 Legislative Session.
First, there are a lot of people serving who have been in Salem too long. They seem more concerned about the politics of State Street than issues of concern to their district. Just as incumbents serving on the federal level enjoy a 98 percent re-election rate, so do those serving in state politics. Without term limits, it would take a crow bar the size of a Buick to get them out of office.
Second, the Freshman Class, for the most part, was an outstanding group-smart, hardworking, willing to cross the aisle, and well educated. Most were there because someone had been termed out leaving an open seat. Many are not interested in serving longer than the 12 years that voters mandated a decade ago. That is to say, they took on the task of running and serving because they knew it would not last forever.
Unfortunately, the downside of terms not lasting forever is pretty obvious. The 2001 Freshman Class made up half of the House. Given the job demands, and the slope of the learning curve, Oregon's term limit law (the strictest in the nation) results in legislative activity that can look a lot like trying to find your way around a dark room without a map to the light switch.
In the House this session, over 4,000 bills were introduced. As a new legislative assistant, I began the session by trying to read all of them. I would guess I got to less than half. The remainder had to be read as they went to committee, often with less than a day's notice before a bill was heard in committee. If the bill is complex, and requires extensive research, that isn't enough time. That's why representatives who are lawyers in real life have a huge advantage. The rest are scrambling.
Where a representative's office gets help on problematic bills is a real issue with term limits. Throughout the session, and increasingly so in the final hours, representatives relied on the well-financed, special-interest lobby that swarms the halls of our statehouse. Businesses, corporations and big money is what runs state government in part due to term limits. That is one reason term-limited legislators recently filled suit to overturn term limits.
This week, opponents of Oregon's term limit law welcomed the lower court ruling of Judge Richard Barber striking down the constitutional amendment that created term limits. In a mere 53 words, the judge ruled that the 1992 referendum contained too many constitutional changes. However, before you get out and dust off those old lawn signs you should know the whispers around the State House indicate that the Oregon Supreme Court will reverse the lower court decision.
If not, look for more of the same kind of legal challenges to past amendments enacted by the people. Next in line will be Measure 5 (property tax limitation referendum) and Measure 50 (related to 5). Both contain too many constitutional changes under the reasoning used by Judge Barber. Should all of the "constitutional changes" referred to the voters over the last decade start marching down the Supreme Court aisle, we will witness a pretty interesting free-for-all that could have dramatic repercussions on local and state government. Stay tuned.
And On Redistricting...
No one could have predicted the proposed changes of Southern Oregon's House Districts.
I studied the proposed maps of both the Republicans and the Democrats and neither came close to what Bill Bradbury presented. The Secretary of State lumped Ashland and Jacksonville together for the first time in Oregon history. While it's pretty wild to have the seat pulled out from under Alan Bates, the interests of Ashland are certainly more inline with those of Jacksonville than those of the Upper Rogue Valley.
Redistricting should be about combining communities of common interests so that they may have representation at the capitol, and Bill Bradbury has done just that in his proposal.
Cathy Shaw is chief of staff for Rep. Alan Bates, D-Eagle Point; an author; and the former three-term mayor of Ashland.
By Cathy Shaw
