Time to get serious about term limits
A study released today shows New Jersey was the only state in the union to raise taxes by more than 5 percent this year - and one of just three states to raise taxes by more than 1 percent. That study overshadowed another one on term limits released simultaneously by the same group, the National Conference of State Legislatures.
If the Legislature doesn't do something to bring taxes under control this fall, term limits may be the only way to effect change. Thanks to gerrymandering, incumbent legislators rarely lose elections, even if they are totally ineffective or crooks.
According to the term limits study, which analyzed the impact of term limits on six states with them and three without, they are certainly effective at bringing in new blood. Term limits will prevent a total of 268 legislators in 13 states from running for re-election in the 2006 elections. The Nebraska Senate will lose 41 percent of its incumbents and the California House will lose one third of its incumbents.
The report concludes, however, that the loss of term limits in state legislatures "have not accomplished many of the changes proponents promised -- greater social, gender and racial diversity in legislatures and a decrease in political careerism. Instead they have given rise to inexperienced lawmakers and polarized legislatures. And they have tipped the balance of power away from legislatures and toward governors' offices and the executive branch."
That's unfortunate, but nothing is more important than getting new faces in the New Jersey Legislature, particularly in the leadership positions.
If the Legislature doesn't do something to bring taxes under control this fall, term limits may be the only way to effect change. Thanks to gerrymandering, incumbent legislators rarely lose elections, even if they are totally ineffective or crooks.
According to the term limits study, which analyzed the impact of term limits on six states with them and three without, they are certainly effective at bringing in new blood. Term limits will prevent a total of 268 legislators in 13 states from running for re-election in the 2006 elections. The Nebraska Senate will lose 41 percent of its incumbents and the California House will lose one third of its incumbents.
The report concludes, however, that the loss of term limits in state legislatures "have not accomplished many of the changes proponents promised -- greater social, gender and racial diversity in legislatures and a decrease in political careerism. Instead they have given rise to inexperienced lawmakers and polarized legislatures. And they have tipped the balance of power away from legislatures and toward governors' offices and the executive branch."
That's unfortunate, but nothing is more important than getting new faces in the New Jersey Legislature, particularly in the leadership positions.
posted by Randy Bergmann at 10:56 AM
7 Comments:
Sorry Randy I must disagree with you on this one "greater social, gender and racial diversity in legislatures" is just what we don't need ,the best part of high property tax is it keeps out just such people ,which is just why I moved here to get away from those kind of people .
I think political careerism is the crux of the problem, even when it is not ensconced in crookedness and abuse. Terms limit would make candidates view the whole process differently. They would enter politics without the idea of carving out a lifelong career. I wonder if implementation should include a grandfather clause so that Trenton does not deny any particular district the right to re-elect a current incumbent, if that district wants to? Once he's out (loses an election or dies or resigns) then terms limit would kick in.
So I have to pay $20k a year in property taxes, Alphonse, because you don't want your daughter going to the prom with Leroy? Go back to Bensonhurst, you bigot.
educate yourself ..Term limits don't help diversity ...http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060815/ap_on_re_us/term_limits
And you don't help Jersey.
Here are a few suggestions in addition to enacting the much-desired term-limits mentioned above:
(1) Change the NJ Constititution in such a way that it prohibits elected and/or appointed officials from collecting any pension or benefit whatsover after they leave office.
(2) Change the NJ Constitution so that local municipalities and school boards may not increase either spending or tax increases beyond the current rate of inflation. Make local municipal budgets subject to the approval of the voters and hold those elections -- all elections, actually -- on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November. (e.g., The day most folks consider Election Day.)
(3) Change the NJ Constitution so that we have real Initiative & Referendum. By that I mean NJ's laws should be comparable with the laws of California, a place where ordinary citizens, through the petition and the ballot box, have a realistic chance of changing the laws of land, the wishes of their elected & bought Legisltature notwithstanding.
(4) Permit the recall of elected officials when, say, a mere 10% of registered voters sign a petition calling for such a recall election. Under current NJ law, 25% of registered voters must sign such a petition in order for a recall election to take place. Given that it is common for approximately 50% or less of registered voters to actually turn out for a local election, demanding that 25% of registered voters call for a recall election means that, all too often, considerably more than the number of voters that put someone into office must now call for a straight up or down vote on the question of whether that elected official should remain in that office. (See the current move to recall Howell's mayor as a case in point.)
(5) Abolish local police departments and local municipal courts in favor of a county-wide sheriff system and a county-wide municipal court. We don't need 50 or so police chiefs in Monmouth County alone, much less 50 or so separate municipal courts, the employees of which all receive fat state pensions and all the other benefits that come with government employment. (Let's limit the number of people that we pay to stay home on Columbus Day.)
We don't need the police in my town (Rumson) sitting on their asses all night long doing nothing more than issuing traffic tickets when open-air drug sales, prostitution and armed robberies are common a few miles away in, say, Asbury Park. We certainly don't need part-timers serving as local judges and local prosecutors, all of whom will, one day, make a claim for a oh-so-generous state pension, not to mention lifetime health insurance for themselves and their spouses.
(6) Change the NJ Constitution so that all members of the judiciary are elected for a fixed term of office. They do this in Pennsylvania and no one except the judicial elite suggests that the judiciary in PA is any less capable than the liberal, activist judges that we have here in New Jersey. (Incidentally, and as per the NJ Supreme Court, what is the method of execution in NJ? Oh yeah ... Old age... Silly me. :-) ) The first three words in our US Constitution are -- to me, at least -- the most important words in that great document. "We the People" ought to mean something, particularly to those who are members of the bar, and most particularly to those who wear the regal black robes of a New Jersey judge. No one in a democracy should hold anything close to lifetime tenure insofar as their job is concerned.
(7) Amend the NJ Constitution so that state taxes may not be increased or otherwise expanded without the approval of the voters in a referendum.
(8) Let me pump my own gas and buy a six-pack of beer in a supermarket or a Wawa, for Christ's sake. How about treating me like an adult?
(9) Who am I kidding? This is New Jersey, after all. NONE of these much-needed changes will see the light of day. Let me get out of this liberal swamp of a state before its too late.
Daydreamer...It's already too late to get out .If you haven't already done so .Prople have become wise to N J ...they are no longer moving in everyone knows the state owes the pension systen 18 BILLION dollars ,you will see your property tax DOUBLE within 4 years,fees TAX and everything will be going ...even the state workers are retiring to MD. a state which does not tax Retirement income . income ....
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