A New Term Limits Initiative For Mississippi

On June 3, Dr. Godfrey Garner of Edwards in Hinds County filed a proposed initiative, No. 30. This measure is for term limits, but, unfortunately, it includes U. S. senators and representatives as well as state and local officials. In U. S. Term Limits v. Thornton (1995), the U. S. Supreme Court said that an individual state cannot term limit its congressional delegation; the U. S. Constitution would have to be amended. This 5-4 ruling struck down congressional term limits laws in 23 states.

Since Mississippi’s initiative process took effect in 1993, the term limits proposals of 1995 and 1999 are the only initiatives that have qualified for the ballot, and both were voted down. I recall that one of the large farmers’ organizations poured a lot of money into ads to defeat at least one of these measures. The ads did an excellent job of "muddying the water" on the issue.

From his perch in Scott County, columnist Sidney Salter chirped loudly in opposition to term limits. Smiling Sidney obviously prefers being governed by an elite group of professional politicians.

Thanks to Majority in Mississippi for calling this to my attention.