Post by pavel on Feb 4, 2016 18:25:21 GMT -6
LITTLE ROCK— More than two decades ago, Arkansas was among the first states to embrace the term limits movement by restricting how long lawmakers could serve in its Legislature. No one championed the movement more loudly than the state's Republicans, who saw it as a way to loosen the Democratic Party's generations-old grip on Arkansas' elected offices.
But now that Republicans have turned the state red, things have gotten complicated. GOP leaders have decided that legislators should be able to stay longer after all. Term-limits purists insist on holding the line.
"People want government to be more representative," said Tim Jacob, spokesman for a group gathering signatures to put tougher term limits before the voters again in November. "People don't want power bases built in our Legislature."
The leaders of both legislative chambers, Senate President Jonathan Dismang and House Speaker Jeremy Gillam, are backing the longer incumbent-friendly terms, which were approved in a referendum in 2014.
Read more: www.arkansasonline.com/news/2016/feb/04/arkansas-gop-having-embraced-term-limits-now-confl/?latest
But now that Republicans have turned the state red, things have gotten complicated. GOP leaders have decided that legislators should be able to stay longer after all. Term-limits purists insist on holding the line.
"People want government to be more representative," said Tim Jacob, spokesman for a group gathering signatures to put tougher term limits before the voters again in November. "People don't want power bases built in our Legislature."
The leaders of both legislative chambers, Senate President Jonathan Dismang and House Speaker Jeremy Gillam, are backing the longer incumbent-friendly terms, which were approved in a referendum in 2014.
Read more: www.arkansasonline.com/news/2016/feb/04/arkansas-gop-having-embraced-term-limits-now-confl/?latest