In the closing days of Arkansas’s 2013 legislative session, solons of the Natural State surreptitiously voted to put a measure on the state ballot, without fanfare or ballyhoo.
Five months later, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette finally noticed what happened, and published an editorial, “Outrage of the Year.’ It has just been reprinted. The outrage hasn’t changed. The measure would extend time in office “for state representatives from 6 to 16 years and for state senators from 8 to 16 years.”
But what an Arkansan will read on the ballot seems a tad different: “An Amendment Regulating Contributions to Candidates for State or Local Office, Barring Gifts From Lobbyists to Certain State Officials, Providing for Setting Salaries of Certain State Officials, and Setting Term Limits for Members of the General Assembly.”
“Setting” term limits? No sir. Term limits, already set by voters, would be drastically weakened.
But the good people of Arkansas are beginning to hear the good news, the truth, thanks to the campaign being waged by Arkansas Term Limits against what will be “Issue 3” on the ballot.
The group is led by Bob Porto and my brother, Tim Jacob, who are traveling the state speaking to audiences. Not surprisingly, the people are shocked and angered upon hearing the manifest fraud their representatives are perpetrating.
At a recent talk, Jacob called it “an attempt to deceive the voters,” noting “they have done it on purpose.”
Yet another argument for strict term limits … and fully informed voters.
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.
2 replies on “Legislators, Tramps and Thieves”
How about this:
Prevent lawyers from becoming “lawmakers”. They have an obvious & implicit conflict of interest and they prove over and over they can’t be trusted with the law.
Proves the voters cannot blink for a second without some shenanigans being pulled by politicians.