In this age of political discontent, the Colorado legislature is considering a symbolic measure to ask for a federal constitutional convention to impose term limits on members of the U.S. House and Senate.
But in this age of gridlock, the measure appears stuck.
At its first Senate committee hearing Tuesday, faced certain death, after three of the five committee members said they wouldn’t support it ahead of the vote.
Then, committee chairman Ray Scott, a Republican from Grand Junction, postponed a vote on it. The legislative session ends on May 11.
Sen. Matt Jones, a Democrat from Louisville, called the term limits Colorado voters passed on legislators in 1990 “one of the worst things we ever did.” He said it ceded institutional knowledge and power to lobbyists, damaging decorum and bipartisanship to get things done.
He said term limits deprive voters of representative democracy by limiting which candidates they could choose from.
“For every bad apple you kick out 10 good ones,” Jones said.
Before the hearing, Nick Tomboulides, executive director of the Washington, D.C.-based , said the assertion that lobbyists have more power is a myth.
“It’s the first myth legislators like to go to, but it’s categorically false,” he said.
Tomboulides said special interests prefer a “life-time subscription” for their campaign donations, rather than financing a potential new ally after two terms.
Florida in February. Colorado would be the second state to do so. The resolutions, however, are only requests. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1995 that on their congressional members.
The resolution is sponsored by Democratic Rep. Jonathan Singer of Longmont and Republican Sen. Kevin Lundberg of Berthoud.
“People are basically fed up with Washington, D.C.,” Singer said. “I think when you have term limits you build a certain sense of urgency. When people know they can be there for 10 or 20 or 30 years they don’t have the same sense of urgency, like you do here. And it works out pretty well at the (state) Capitol.”
Lundberg is chairman of the , a group of state legislators from across the country examining term limits and other constitutional issues. Eleven other Colorado Republican lawmakers are members.
Joey Bunch: 303-954-1174, jbunch@denverpost.com or @joeybunch
