Term Limit State and Local Officials

The letter below appeared in The Clarion-Ledger on September 21. At this posting, it has attracted 22 comments there.

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I agree with Noel Funchess ("End 'earmarks' with term limits," September 7). We term limit the president, the governor, and the lieutenant governor, but we let other officials hang around as long as they can keep getting elected.

In the recent "stimulus" bill, Congress authorized 9,000-plus pork-barrel projects totaling hundreds of billions of dollars. Future generations are going to love having to pay for those earmarks.

Sadly, in 1995, the U. S. Supreme Court, in a 5-4 ruling, said that an individual state cannot term limit its congressional delegation.[1] This could only be done by amending the U.S. Constitution.

Dr. Godfrey Garner of Edwards is sponsoring a ballot initiative for term limits. The state attorney general will presumably change this proposal to include only state and local officials.

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[1] U. S. Term Limits v. Thornton