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Legislature Term Limit Increase
AAllen:
Term limits - The people supporting the increase say that we loose to much institutional knowledge, that it take a Senator 2 years just to learn how things work before they become effective. To a degree they are correct. They also talk about the fact that a good candidate can beat an incumbent that is failing to represent his district, an example is Scott Price who defeated an ineffective incumbent.
Those opposed point out the fact this was decided and put into effect by the people, and there has been no outcry from the people to make a change. The only people who have been asking for it are the Senators and many of the Lobbyists who work with them.
The NFOA-PAF has not taken a position on this issue because we see both sides to the argument and both are correct. It is to bad we are loosing a strong supporter like Tony Fulton (who only served 6 years but because of the way things are figured was a couple of days over half a term), but it does force the Senators to get up to speed quickly and helps get rid of some of those that keep getting reelected that are opposed to what the majority of the state supports.
AAllen:
The question that has been raised about Senator Pay, The current pay of $12,000 per year was set back in the 1980's and though there have been several attempts to increase it over time those have all failed. This is me personally, I have not had a conversation with the other principals of the NFOA-PAF on this issue. It would be nice if we could have quality representatives who could work for free. But realistically that is not the truth. With the low pay level the only people who can afford to serve as State Senators are retirees (usually receiving a public pension), lawyers who's practice makes enough that they can be away from it for some time, or those that are employed by interests that pay people to be elected officials (talk about being in the pocket of a special intrest group, and we have several).
Even with the long and short sessions Senators end up working somewhere between 6-9 months of the year on legislative issues. Yes they are not in session all of that, but they are taking meetings with people like me who are trying to get them to introduce legislation. Helping apply pressure to State Agencies to do their work in accordance with the law, and just doing what needs to be done to assist their constituents with their issues.
I don't know about you but I could not take 6-9 months of the year away from my job and pay my mortgage and feed my family. So by having the pay at such a low level we are limiting ourselves on who we can elect because there are a lot of people that would make great Senators that do not run because their family's need their income. We have even had a couple recently step down for this issue, they were elected and after a couple of years they were in such financial trouble they needed to leave the legislature to get back to work earning an income for their family's.
This increase only moves they $12000 a year up to where it would be today if the Senators had been given cost of living increases each of the years since the $12000 a year wage was set. In other words the 12,000 they got in 1980 dollars are only equivalent to the $24000 this would bring them up to in todays dollars.
I would think that this is an issue that each of us needs to think about carefully, and vote your personal beliefs on. But take some time and think about it, it is a lot more complicated than it appears on it's face.
RobertH:
this is how i am voting. i am voting for the pay increase, but voting no on the term limits (two is enough). i am also voting for Amendment 2, to adding the right to hunt, fish, trap, etc to the state constitution.
i don't care if you differ, but that my POV. also, DON'T FORGET TO VOTE TOMORROW!!!!!!
AAllen:
--- Quote from: RobertH on November 05, 2012, 09:14:46 AM ---i don't care if you differ, but that my POV. also, DON'T FORGET TO VOTE TOMORROW!!!!!!
--- End quote ---
Robert that is the most important thing, I don't care if you agree or disagree with me. But I do want you to make certain that your voice is heard.
For info on legislative candidates check out the NFOA-PAF at www.NFOAPAF.org we id not get into a lot on down ballot races this year, only so much time to put into figuring these things out.
unfy:
Others have stated it much more eloquently, but I'll concur -> term limits are a good thing in my humble opinion. Career politicians, or getting too comfy in their position, or possibly the longer you're there the higher chance of corruption, etc....
Yes, a third term does possibly allow for knowing a bit more about what you're getting with an incumbent, but ... that doesn't seem to matter to anyone hehehe :P
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