Thousands Sign Term Limit Petition For ND Politicians. You In?

Experience versus exuberance...do we get the best government with seasoned veterans or fresh perspectives?

David Nething was an esteemed North Dakota politician serving in the North Dakota Senate from 1966-2012 representing District 29 for the Republican party.  That's a 46 year rule.  That's a long time.

I stood in for Senator David Nething midway through his tenure.

In 1981 we had a State High School Senate gathering in Bismarck. I had drawn Senator David Nething's name. So you would have thought I would have had some kind of major clout in Capitol.  Nope, guess seniority doesn't mean much when you're a high school junior. But, spending four decades establishing relationships while holding a high seat in state government...that's probably clout.

North Dakotans are being asked to sign a petition to put term limits on the 2022 election ballot.

The Wahpeton Daily News lists the current signature total at 5,892.  Petition supporters started the drive in July.  They need to gather 31,164 signatures by July of 2022 to make it on the ballot.

Fifteen US States have some form of term limits.

Legislative term limits can be either lifetime or consecutive. In the ten states where the limits are consecutive, once a state legislator has served the maximum number of terms in office, he or she, if eligible, can run for office for the state's other legislative chamber, or leave the legislature. These states are Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Louisiana, Maine, Montana, Nebraska, Ohio, and South Dakota. After a period of time no longer in office in a particular legislative chamber, however, the legislator is allowed to run again for office in that legislative chamber. The period of time that a legislator must be out of office before being able to run again is usually two years.

In five of the 15 states with limits on state legislators, the limit is a lifetime limit. These states are California, Michigan, Missouri, Nevada, and Oklahoma. In these states, once a legislator has served the maximum allowable number of terms in a particular legislative chamber, they may never again run for or hold office in that particular chamber.^[1]

So, it may be that politicians can only hold an office for so many years in a row before they have to skip a term. After that, they can hop back in the saddle.  Or, it could be that the politicians can only hold office for a cumulative amount of years and then never ever come back...at least to that office.

North Dakota's proposed term limit bill would be cumulative years.

Eight years in the house of representatives. Eight years in the senate.  Eight years in the office of governor. Seems you could still do 24 years if you plan it right. Why not become the attorney general to keep your streak going?

Here's the entire petition here.

In the long run- important or not important?