Category: Common Sense

Gosh, it’s tough having to run for office without already being a permanently entrenched incumbent who can just snap his fingers and instantly command vast resources and firepower. These out-of-work career politicians really have my sympathy.

Consider, for example, the plight of former California Assembly Speaker Antonio Villaraigosa. He’s running for mayor of Los Angeles after having been termed out of his job in the state legislature. He says it would be a lot easier to campaign if he were still in office. “Would I prefer to be speaker right now?” he asks rhetorically. “Absolutely. . . . If I call a press conference [these days], no one shows up. If you do it as speaker, everyone’s there. . . . And, you can raise money if you’re already in elected office.” Straight from the horse’s mouth, folks. The incumbents themselves admit that incumbency as such confers huge advantages over challengers on the campaign trail. From which fact one can readily deduce that term limits helps even the playing field.

As the Los Angeles Times points out, the benefits of incumbency are “immeasurable.” They include “a battle-tested army of aides, ready attention from the media, and that most important political asset of all, access to money.” The political consultants agree. “The advantage of incumbency is amazing,” says Rick Taylor, a political consultant in LA. Campaign manager Ace Smith says, “If you’re a [known incumbent], you have Rolodexes the size of oil drums of people you’ve helped for decades. You just dial for dollars.” Just dial for dollars? Sounds like fun. Maybe too much fun.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

So they’re finally paying attention, huh? Whaddaya know. Well, I can’t say it comes as a shock. Yup. Looks like thanks to term limits, politicians in Houston are heeding the voters just a little bit more than they did before.

Mary Williams of Taxpayers for Accountability sure has noticed the difference. Since 1997, her watchdog group has succeeded in getting a majority of the city council to sign a no-new-tax pledge. Mayor Lee Brown has also signed the pledge, along with over 100 candidates for seats on the council. Why this sudden shower of sensitivity toward the taxpayer? Term limits mean more electoral competition. More electoral competition means more accountability to the voters. So long as Houston politicians enjoyed an unchallenged power of incumbency, the power to get reelected almost automatically, they didn’t have to worry much about answering to the voters.

As Mary Williams says, “Without term limits, these no-tax pledges would never have been signed or kept. Most taxpayers understand that term limits are necessary to hold politicians’ feet to the fire and to protect the wallets of the taxpayers.”

Mary Williams is right. In response to those who would disparage the 70 percent of Houston voters who said yes to term limits, she says, “We the people still have freedom. And that freedom includes the right to deny part-time Houston City Council members long-term careers.” She believes that Houston citizens have a right to genuine representation. Before term limits, Houston citizens had a problem. Now they have a solution.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

Politically speaking, I think term limitation is the best thing since sliced-bread. But it’s being given credit for a change in the Arkansas Legislature that, well . . . I just never expected.

The Arkansas Legislature, like legislatures in 18 other states, is term-limited. Now the big news is that the Legislature is, for the most part, sober at least much more so than in the past. And many folks are connecting the two: putting the credit for the recent sobriety trend, or the blame, on term limits. Seems in the old days, before term limits, the nightlife of a legislator was a heckuva lot more exciting than it is today. For instance, there’s the old story from the 1960s. The Speaker announced that a late night vote was going to be even further delayed, when a legislator yelled from the back of the chamber, “We’ve got a bigger problem than that, Mr. Speaker. We’re out of ice.”

No doubt some of the stories have gotten wilder in the retelling, but one legislator’s mother, who had long worked in the Capitol, tried to talk her son out of running for office saying, “You’ll go up there and you’ll start running around and lose your marriage and everything.” There are lots of funny stories about the parties and antics of legislators past. Only problem is the stories are not funny; they’re sad. I don’t know if term limits deserves the credit for the greater sobriety among legislators, but what the heck we’ll take it. Let’s be glad, in any case, for yet another refreshing change in legislative behavior in the wake of term limits.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

Politicians say the darnedest things. Remember former Speaker of the House Tom Foley? Voters in Washington State passed term limits. Foley didn’t like that. So he sued the people to overturn their vote. Next election, the voters sent Foley packing, the only Speaker defeated since the Civil War.

Now politicians in Oregon are trying to follow in his footsteps. They don’t like the term limits that Oregon voters passed with a 70 percent majority, the first initiative in state history to gain a million yes votes. The politicians want to repeal term limits, extend them, water them down, ANYTHING to get out from under those darn limits so they can wheel and deal with our tax dollars for the rest of their lives. Now they’ve introduced legislation to change the filing period for legislative candidates. Why? So they can sue the people of Oregon and overturn the term limits law.

The legislation would allow for an immediate lawsuit, no delay. State Rep. Bill Witt says, “It’s an effort to subvert the will of the people by using the courts . . . [It’s] disgraceful.” Rep. Jeff Merkley called the maneuver “transparently self-serving.” But Representative Carl Wilson would have none of that. On the floor of the people’s House, he told fellow legislators: “I don’t expect voters to understand. But as you know, we are privy to things they are not. This hallowed place is where we are, and we know it best.” Politicians say the darnedest things.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

Forget about why Johnny can’t think. What happened to the thinking ability of the teachers and bureaucrats and the law enforcers? When school shootings make the headlines, common sense is one of the first casualties.

Again and again, schools are throwing the book at innocent children for doing innocent childish things. Grown adults are adding two and two and coming up with five. Ever play cops and robbers when you were a kid? It’s a guy thing. I bet if you surveyed one thousand adult guys, at least 999 of them would admit that yeah, as little boys they did play cops and robbers at one time or another. Very few of those thousand, if any, grew up to become bank robbers. Harmless stuff, right?

Well, not if you use a paper gun and not if you’re attending second grade in Irvington, New Jersey, in the year 2001. Kids caught playing cops and robbers there were recently suspended from school, and school officials called in the real coppers. The police did some deep thinking of their own and charged the little boys with making terrorist threats. Sounds like it really is getting dangerous to go to school these days dangerous for little boys, anyway, who do the things little boys always do.

The people we trust to teach our children how to think seem to be doing precious little of it themselves. Panic is the enemy of clear thinking. We all need to take a deep breath, count to ten, and consider whether two and two maybe add up to four after all.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

“Vote for the Crook: It’s Important.” Years ago, a citizen-led campaign used that slogan. The point was to support Edwin Edwards for governor of Louisiana over David Duke Edwards, seemingly always under indictment for corruption; Duke, the former Ku Klux Klansman. Not much of a choice. That’s why it may surprise some folks that Louisiana is the only state without the citizen initiative process where legislators passed term limits on themselves. Of course, it came on the heels of numerous prosecutions of legislators and some ferocious lobbying by citizens.

Now, six years after 76 percent of Louisianans voted for term limits, there is legislation to repeal them even before they’ve affected a single legislator. The governor, previously a term limits supporter, wonders if the legislators might repeal his limits the state really needs him for another term, or two. In New Orleans, there are term limits on the mayor and council. But now comes Mayor Marc Morial. No, he’s not against term limits. Not at all. He supports term limits, well, for other lesser human beings, anyway. For himself, he wants an exception to the two-term limit, so he can seek a third term. He says it’s because the schools are slowly deteriorating.

Hmmmm. Wasn’t he supposed to prevent that during the eight years he’s already been in charge? Mayor Morial is calling his effort: “Just Three.” Opponents are calling it: “Just Me.” That’s the slogan for career politicians everywhere.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

If you don’t live in Youngstown or Warren, Ohio, you’ve may have missed two very well, let’s just call ’em “colorful” figures. First is radio talk show host, Louie Free “the intelligent alternative, brain-food from the heartland.”

Free hosts programs on three stations, er, well . . . he used to. Second is 17-year incumbent Congressman Jim Traficant. Traficant has been the subject of several criminal probes and an indictment for accepting bribes back in 1980. Traficant is persuasive and was acquitted. But in a twist that would be funny if it weren’t so sad, the U.S. Tax Court ruled he owed more than $100,000 in unpaid taxes. Taxes on what, you ask? On the huge bribes he got from the mobsters! Aw shucks.

Traficant may hold what most political analysts call a safe seat, but he’s been catching a lot of flak on Free’s popular talk show. Until the other day, that is, when Free was fired. The reason is in dispute. Free told reporters: “[Management] asked me what I thought about Traficant. I told them Jim Traficant, I believe, is the No. 1 threat to this area’s success. Three days later, I was out of a job.”‘

Now we find out that a partner in the company that bought Free’s radio station is a major contributor to Congressman Traficant. Was Free fired to silence his attacks on the congressman? We may never know that for sure. What we do know is that Louie Free won’t be easy to silence “the intelligent alternative, brain-food from the heartland.”

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

It’s great to have protection. I think you know what I mean. The right of initiative and referendum. The right to directly pass a good law or knock out a bad one. The right to govern your governors.

Maybe you remember Proposition 13, the California law passed in the 1970s that limited property taxes. Prop 13 allowed many homeowners to keep their homes. It was the beginning of a tax revolt that swept the nation. But what if you have a tax revolt and no power of initiative? Well, you’re up the creek without a paddle, basically. The politicians will do whatever they want to you. Take Connecticut, for example.

Connecticut used to be one of a handful of states that did not impose a personal income tax. People moved to Connecticut to take advantage of the more favorable tax climate. It was good thing. In 1990 a Republican named Lowell Weicker ran for governor in Connecticut. He promised he would never impose a state income tax if he were governor. Then, as soon as he became governor, he pushed the legislature to adopt a state income tax.

People were angry, people were upset. A public rally was attended by 65,000 furious residents. But Connecticut voters do not have the legal power to repeal measures or put a referendum on the ballot. No protection. Sure, Weicker paid a political price, choosing (wisely) not to face the voters for reelection. But the income tax remains. In 24 states, citizens have the right of initiative and referendum. Twenty-four down, 26 to go.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

Okay, Dubya. We get it. You love baseball. We love it too. And we love Mom and apple pie. Now that that’s settled, can we have our money back? President Bush is boosting baseball. He invited baseball players to hobnob with him at the White House and they came. Hey, neato. Well, I guess if you’re the President, and you ask folks to visit you, they will come.

Another baseball-boosting event was a mano-a-mano meeting at Milwaukee’s Miller Park stadium with former baseball commissioner Bud Selig. Bush said, “I like baseball. Do you like baseball?” “Sure, I like baseball,” said Selig. “Me and baseball, we’re like this.” Bush nodded. “Yep, baseball. Love it.” It’s not just about baseball, though. It’s about politics. And taxes.

These days, politicians think it’s A-OK to fund stadiums out the taxpayers’ pockets. Big baseball teams bring in huge revenue. Yet the Milwaukee Brewers paid less than a fourth of the expense of Miller Park, a $400,000,000 venture. Angry Wisconsin residents had to pick up the rest of the tab. There was nothing they could do about it, since Wisconsin voters are denied the right of initiative and referendum. The President is well aware that other places around the country also have taxpayer subsidized sports stadiums. As a former co-partner of the Texas Rangers baseball team, Bush pushed for and won a similar stadium subsidy from unwilling taxpayers. The tax-cut President should know that Americanism and baseball still mix, but not when the game is being played on the backs of taxpayers.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.