Many backers of strict term limits now regret it, saying they only made things worse
The strictest term limits in the nation, enacted 20 years ago to end the “stench of greed and vote-selling” in Sacramento, have instead made California’s government so dysfunctional, many who once backed the reform say, that they now regret pushing for it.
“Of all the mistakes I’ve made in public life, the one I regret most is advocating for term limits for the Legislature,” said Rep. Tom McClintock, R-Granite Bay, a leading conservative figure in California who was one of a small number of incumbent legislators who backed the term limits measure two decades ago. “It has harmed the institution badly.”
I think I was one of those who voted for term limits back in 1990, IIRC.
But then, I was young(er) and foolish.
Term limits have not really made the situation with the California legislature any better in the past 20 years.
Now, as I’m older, I realize more that the so called “dysfunction” of the legislature really is nothing more than a mirror of the conflicting interests among this large state’s 30 million + people.