Utah governors need to be limited to two terms in office to avoid "empire-building," the sponsor of legislation requested by Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. said Tuesday.

"I really believe eight years is long enough," Sen. Carlene Walker, R-Salt Lake, said. "The governor is literally, over the years, in charge of thousands of jobs and appointments. . . . It's kind of an opportunity for empire building."

Walker will introduce the bill, which is still being drafted, on behalf of the governor. Huntsman campaigned on term limits for the state's chief executive and said in his first State of the State speech earlier this month that "no governor should serve more than two terms."

He also called in his speech for other reforms to the executive branch, which have yet to surface as legislation. Those include a mandatory cooling-off period for elected and appointed officials in the executive branch before they can become lobbyists.

The governor's deputy chief of staff, Neil Ashdown, said Huntsman believes term limits offer "an opportunity. After you've looked at some of these issues for a long time, a fresh set of eyes is the most beneficial."

Utah's governor had been subject to a 12-year term limit until that law was repealed two years ago. The last governor to be elected before Huntsman, former Gov. Mike Leavitt, stepped down during his third term to join the Bush administration.

"I'm not going to say he was in too long," Walker said of Leavitt, whose decision to seek a third term created some hard feelings among his fellow Republicans. "But I think his first two terms were more productive."

Senate President John Valentine, R-Orem, said the state does "need to have changeover more rapidly in the executive branch." He said the term-limit proposal "may be somewhat of a reaction to three-term governors."

Huntsman ran into one of the downsides of following an administration that held power for longer than usual when he fired 33 political appointees in the Department of Community and Economic Development shortly after taking office.

He was criticized for letting the employees — some with a dozen years of experience — go, even though they all served at the pleasure of the governor. Walker said that's the way it goes when a new governor is elected.

Huntsman, the senator said, "wants to move ahead, and that was part of it. Heads roll when administrations change. You make a clean sweep. It isn't personal; it's just fresh ideas," she said. "It may be painful for individuals, but it's a very healthy process."

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