State lawmaker looks to expand term limits
Missouri State Capitol Building. Photo by Tim Sampson (Missouri News Horizon)
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – With American’s feeling increasingly anti-establishment and opposed to career politicians – as demonstrated by Tea Party and Occupy Wall Street protestors – a state lawmaker has introduced a proposal that would limit the amount of time statewide elected officials can hold office.
This week, State Sen. Brad Lager, R-Savannah, pre-filed a Joint Resolution that would extend term limits to all elected officials in Missouri – ending a system in which only some Missouri politicians are limited to the number of terms they can serve.
“Missouri has held term limits for the governor and members of the Senate and House for some time now,” Lager said in a written statement. “Our founders envisioned a government that was run by citizen volunteers, not professional politicians. These limits ensure that Missouri remains a state run by fresh volunteers to public service, not entitled career politicians.”
Currently, members of the state legislature can serve only eight years in either chamber of the Missouri legislature, which means no one can serve longer than 16 years in total.
Similar rules apply to the governor and treasurer, who can only serve a maximum of two four-year terms. But Lager’s proposal would extend these terms to other statewide offices though, including the lieutenant governor, attorney general, secretary of state and auditor. Lager is currently seeking one of these positions as a candidate for lieutenant governor in 2012.
Such a law would disqualify someone like his current chief rival for the lieutenant governor’s seat, incumbent Peter Kinder, who recently announced he’d be seeking a third term in the state’s second highest office.
Lager argues that the current system is unfair in Missouri politics. Missouri voters overwhelmingly approved term limits for state legislators in 1992, but Lager said it makes no sense to have such a rule “apply to only half of our government.”
But there are some who disagree. During the most recent legislative session, Sen. Tim Green, D-St. Louis, introduced a bill that would have doubled the amount of time that state lawmakers can serve in Jefferson City. Green, who is in his final term after more than two decades in the state legislature, argued that the current term limits hinder the effectiveness of state lawmakers, forcing them out of office at a point when they’ve finally become proficient enough in dealing with state political procedure to get things accomplished.
Lager’s expansion of term limits would ultimately have to be approved by Missouri voters at the polls before such a provision could take effect.
Related posts:
- MNH News Nut: Senate votes to extend term limits
- Missouri lawmaker questions federal disaster relief spending
- Kinder pressures House to avoid passing term limit revisions
- More shake-ups in the lieutenant governor race
- Governor’s signature limits nuisance claims against farms
Posted by Tim Sampson on December 6, 2011. Filed under Featured, Politics.
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