Op-Ed: Term limits are the debasing poison in Ohio politics

by Thomas Suddes, Cleveland Plain Dealer

The one sure way to drain the Statehouse consulting- and-collecting cesspool would be to repeal General Assembly term limits. Otherwise, nothing will change in Columbus, not even if a clutch of Republicans ends up in the hoosegow.

Term limits, which voters imposed in 1992, forbid state representatives and senators to serve more than eight consecutive years. Then - in theory - they take a four-year break.

But in practice, rather than go home to Dullsville, unwined and undined, term-limited legislators seek to win a seat in the other General Assembly chamber - senators in the House, House members in the Senate. Or they coax a patronage slot out of Republican Gov. Bob Taft.

Click on the "Read More..." link below for more, and to learn how term-limits impacted our concealed handgun license law.

Some GOP conservatives, bankrolled in part by the late Fred A. Lennon, a Hunting Valley zillionaire, aimed the term-limits initiative at what seemed (to them) to be permanent Democratic rule of Ohio's House. Trouble was, though GOP rightists like to proclaim that ideas have consequences, they didn't think that one through.

First, the GOP's 1990 capture of the Apportionment Board, which draws General Assembly districts to suit the party that rules the board, assured Republican rule of the House anyway.

Second, once Republicans did consolidate power at the Statehouse, term limits guaranteed GOP turmoil by forcing the departure of such deft leaders as suburban Columbus' Jo Ann Davidson, House speaker from 1995 through 2000, and her deputy, Medina's William G. Batchelder, perhaps Ohio's most eminent conservative.

Third, most legislative seats are decided in primary elections, not in November. But primaries draw a party's True Believers to the polls. Accordingly, GOP legislative candidates in Ohio have become - depending on the perspective - either the captives or the puppeteers of score-keepers, such as the risible Ohio Taxpayers Association, which by implication certify who is or is not a "real" Republican. And that goads the collectors and consultants to try to game the score-keepers.

That's doubly laughable given the mousy Republicanism that reigns in Ohio: Democratic Gov. Richard F. Celeste's 1983 collective-bargaining law for the AFL-CIO's public employee unions remains virtually untouched. And Republican Gov. George V. Voinovich's special top tax bracket for Ohioans earning more than $200,000 still adorns the Revised Code.

Finally - and this is what has landed Republicans in the Statehouse soup - because seniority (i.e., expertise and a track record) means nothing in a term-limited legislature, and in fact is now nearly impossible to obtain or develop, the size of an Ohio legislator's campaign fund has become the sole measure of his or her political heft (and, often, a ladder to the House speakership or Senate presidency).

So, when the turnip truck delivers a newly elected Ohio legislator to Capitol Square, a clique of consultants and collectors crowds the Welcome Wagon, to shout one "truth" - no funds, no future - and to hide another: The more a politico collects, the more he must pay the go-fers.

For insiders, it's the closest thing to perpetual motion this side of sci-fi. But for Joan Taxpayer, it's a big con, because to make fund-raising the measure of everything puts brass- knuckle politics behind the wheel - and confines sound public policy to the back seat.

Still, consultants and collectors, as such, are not the problem. They're a symptom of Ohio's "what's-my-next- job?" mentality. And that is the sour fruit of term limits.

Commentary:
Concealed handgun licenseholders are, even now, struggling under privacy-invading and even dangerous provisions in the new law precisely because of term-limits.

Comments made last December during the debate on this law by Senate President Doug White never got enough attention in the media. White admitted to Ohio Public Radio's Bill Cohen that a few term-limited Republican Senators were reluctant to commit to overriding a Taft veto on HB12 because they were hoping for "life after the legislature."

Concealed Handgun Licensees are struggling today with attempting to follow "plain sight" rules for carrying a handgun in their car. This language, demanded by the Ohio State Highway Patrol (and thus by Taft), is dangerous, requiring far too much handling of a firearm.

Other licensees are being victimized by media outlets publishing their names in the newspaper. One newspaper violated the law by publishing the street addresses of more than 80 people, including a man who had received death threats, and who was "hiding" from a potential attacker.

When a negligent discharge happens in a car, or when a person being stalked is victimized after having her address published in the newspaper, we will have none other than Bob Taft and term-limited Republicans to thank.

Don't take it from us - term-limited Doug White told you so.