A few short years ago, the voters of North Dakota imposed term limits on North Dakota legislators. I voted against that measure, being of the opinion that voters have an opportunity at every election to limit the terms of serving legislators by simply not voting for them.
Conversely, yours truly limited his own service in the state legislature by voluntarily choosing not to run for a third term. That said, I have confessed to one of our present Minot state senators that I did not feel fully competent until I had served six years as a state senator. Use your own judgment as to whether I was average, below average, or above average.
It is a plausible theory that the voters made a mistake by voting to impose term limits. It is equally plausible that the same voters made a mistake by voting for some of the presently serving state legislators. A number of bills that are cringe-worthy have been passed. There is quite a variety of quality within the present Minot legislative delegation.
On a statewide level, it is arguable that Ray Holmberg—now a federal prisoner rather than a state senator—would not have had the opportunity to commit sex crimes at taxpayer expense if he had been term-limited. Holmberg had amassed quite a bit of power since he was first elected in 1976. Without the power he had accumulated, the taxpayers probably wouldn’t have been underwriting his sickening behavior.
My guess is that the legislature’s attempt to become elected more often will fall short when placed before the voters. North Dakota has always had a citizen legislature. That is good. If term limits give more citizens the opportunity to serve as legislators, that is also good. I may have been wrong to have both written against and voted against term limits in the past. Imagine that.
