by Tom Shields
December 16, 2007

Folks around Lansing having been looking for ways to gut the state’s term-limit law since the day it passed in 1992.

Term limits, as they were dreamt, would finally weed the legislature of fixtures that had become either part of the problem or the furniture. Unfortunately, they would also unceremoniously eliminate the good folks who made state government work.

The problem with reforming or changing the term-limit law now is that we have to go back to voters, who passed it with 59 percent, and convince them that they screwed up.

To get this on the ballot, the legislature would have to approve it — a certain kiss of death. Alternatively, we raise about a million bucks to collect signatures for putting it on the ballot, which not even lawmakers and lobbyists with vested interests have volunteered to donate.

The early years of term limits were not as painful as predicted. With John Engler at the helm, and a veteran group of legislative leaders still in place, there was no lack of institutional knowledge or leadership on either side of the aisle.

But as veterans faded from the scene, the Capitol became a lot like living in a college town — names and faces change, but they all start looking alike. The lack of experienced lawmakers started to take its toll on the legislature’s ability to tackle complex issues built on a history no one in the current group would possess.

Eventually, a group of Lansing insiders convened to look at changing the law, concluding voters would never extend terms. They might allow an adjustment in how those terms are served, but only if they perceive the measure is punitive toward lawmakers.

With that, they sat back and waited for the perfect storm.

They saw a potential storm brewing with the effort to move Michigan’s presidential primary to January:

• Voters more in tune to politics
• Incentive for termed-out legislators to put the issue on the ballot
• A punitive proposal limiting the revolving door to lobbying and instituting a no-work-no-pay rule
• Candidates flooding the airwaves in a time-shortened election, making it tough for national term limit activists to make their case
• The opportunity to advance good government policies by packaging the term limit proposal with a constitutional language clean up.

It was no surprise that politics got in the way of the perfect plan.

The budget and the ensuing tax crises set things in a tailspin. Leadership couldn’t agree. The package had to be watered down to get support. Democrat candidates were pulled from the ballot leaving Republican voters to decide the issue. In the end, Mark Brewer and the Democrats decided to extract a couple of campaign finance goodies the unions wanted before they would vote for it.

The perfect storm never developed. So the next question is, can it ever develop? Can a term-limit reform proposal that is punitive enough for the voters to support ever be approved by the legislature for the ballot?

The legislators would need to put their own interests aside and pass a proposal that includes things like:

• A 2–3 year ban on the revolving door
• Full personal financial disclosure
• A ban on all gifts
• A no-work-no pay provision
• Pay and benefit reductions
• Part-time service
• Set aside grandfathering protection for currently serving lawmakers.

Fat chance.

So that takes us back to the beginning. Find a few million dollars for a petition drive. Run a campaign designed to smack the legislature over the head with a two-by-four while at the same time lobbying their support.

Even if the money could be found — can the right time be found to put it on the ballot with a chance of it passing?

If things are going well, voters will say, “Why should we change?” If things are in the dumpster, they’ll say, “Why should we reward them?”

It’s most likely we are permanently stuck with term limits, unless we find an effort that panders to voters, not lawmakers.

* Authors’ Note: We should acknowledge the valiant effort of Michigan Chamber Vice President Bob LaBrant’s attempt to guide the term limit reform boat through the treacherous seas. He got it a lot closer to shore than anyone expected.

Tom Shields is founder and president of Marketing Resource Group, a Lansing-based political marketing and public relations firm.