Legislators drag feet on term limits

Our part-time lawmakers have broken the ultimate promise between themselves and the citizens of Utah. In 1994, when a citizen's initiative was placed on the ballot with eight-year term limits, then House speaker, now Congressman Rob Bishop, made a covenant with the people of Utah. "If you turn down this Draconian citizen initiative, the Legislature will pass a reasonable 12-year limit."

That promise was broken with two hours remaining on the last day of the 2003 session. With little dissenting debate, the Legislature bowed their heads, pushed the green buttons and did a cut-and-run out of town. Seventy-six percent of the citizens of Utah did not want this to happen, according to a Deseret News and KSL-TV poll conducted by Dan Jones in January 2003, just months before the vote.

Now it's time for our elected officials to answer for their actions. In an article written by Bob Bernick Jr. on Dec. 9, he spoke of my intention to file a citizen's initiative to allow candidates for office to voluntarily file a term-limit pledge to be included in any state-sponsored voter education material, like the voters pamphlet.

The indignant uproar from my conservative legislative friends only proves that once elected, even good conservatives cannot govern themselves without protecting their self-interest. Sen. Curt Bramble, R-Provo, even campaigned on overturning this issue, saying it's unconstitutional, yet the only ruling coming from the U.S. Supreme Court said that states could not place term limits on federal office holders.

No Utah court has ever ruled on term limits. The logical answer would be to have a Utah constitutional amendment setting reasonable term limits for elected office. But in Utah, only the Legislature can sponsor changes to the constitution, so we are back to square one.

I spoke to my senator, Howard Stephenson, who was one of the 12 dissenting votes in the Senate. He said a bargain was made in 1994, and he felt a moral obligation to keep his promise. I asked if he would consider sponsoring my proposal to allow for voluntary term-limit pledges in the Legislature, and his reply shocked me even further. He said, "Mark, I can appreciate what you are trying to do, but all you would accomplish is getting the honest and moral elected officials to sign your pledge, leaving the dishonest ones that have districts so secure no matter what they do, to opt out."

So where do we go from here? I have decided to shelve my voluntary terms-limit pledge initiative and join with Bart Grant of Utah Term Limits to raise the $250,000 necessary to get this passed.