In 1992, a little organization sprang up in New Mexico called \u201cDrive the Rascals Out,\u201d\u00a0 calling on voters to vote all incumbents out of the state legislature.\u00a0 This organization appeared to have just one member \u2013Marvin something \u2013 but it caught on with public sentiment and got plenty of news coverage and TV time.<\/p>\n
This was the period when \u201cRaymondandManny\u201d was pronounced as one word. \u00a0\u00a0New Mexico\u00a0 House Speaker Raymond Sanchez and Senate President pro-Tem\u00a0 Manny Aragon were quite different in style and substance, but the word symbolized the contempt with which many New Mexicans viewed their state legislature \u2013 as incompetent, corrupt and uncouth.<\/p>\n
There was a great deal of talk in the media including careless generalizations implying that all legislators were mere followers, rather than 112 individuals with their own values and priorities.\u00a0 This had an effect: responsible people became much less willing to run for office.<\/p>\n
A few legislators announced, shortly before filing deadline, that they had decided not to run again.\u00a0 Some of these legislators had solid records as reformers.\u00a0 They were exactly the sort of public officials a fellow like Marvin would want.<\/p>\n
Ol\u2019 Marvin had quite a reaction.\u00a0 He went on television and said, in effect, \u201cWait!\u00a0 I didn\u2019t mean you guys!\u201d\u00a0 He made a public plea to these legislators to reconsider.<\/p>\n
(Personal disclosure:\u00a0 my late husband, Senator Ken Kamerman, was one of those legislators.)<\/p>\n
Marvin had made a common mistake.\u00a0 He had failed to recognize he was not the original inventor of government reform.\u00a0 These others had not only been ahead of him, they had done what he had not.\u00a0 They had run for office, served honorably, and done as much reforming as they could.\u00a0 Marvin finally realized that these experienced legislators had learned how to get things done and were walking away with that knowledge. \u00a0The freshman lawmakers who would replace them would have a steep learning curve and be less effective. \u00a0More importantly, new lawmakers would know much less about the substance of New Mexico law.<\/p>\n
Today we\u2019re hearing new calls for term limits.\u00a0 The issue boils down to an argument about preventing corruption versus institutional memory.\u00a0 Corruption, the influence of special interests, seems to increase with time in office due to the pressure to raise campaign money.\u00a0 But if lawmakers weren\u2019t there when particular laws were made, don\u2019t remember what the laws say and why they were enacted, they are less effective in doing their jobs, forced to rely on the unelected staff. \u00a0\u00a0Under the constitutional separation of powers, lawmakers are supposed to exercise oversight over the executive institutions they created by law.\u00a0 That is much harder for neophytes who have to learn from scratch.<\/p>\n
New Mexico is particularly hampered because we have a part-time volunteer legislature, not much legislative staff, and we are held back by armloads of statutes in need of improvement or updating and regulatory agencies in need of knowledgeable oversight.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
If we\u2019re not in favor of changing to a professional paid legislature (I\u2019m not), or adding large numbers of year-round staff members (I\u2019m not), then we had better think again before advocating for term limits \u2013 unless you, reader, volunteer to run for office and to prepare by studying several volumes of statute books. \u00a0Just kidding.\u00a0 Maybe.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s predictable that a few legislators will be term-limited by their colleagues via redistricting.\u00a0 They will find their districts redrawn in ways that make it more difficult to run again.\u00a0 The public probably will never know which of those changes were strictly due to demographics or whether some of those decisions were influenced by other, more personal, factors.<\/p>\n
Triple Spaced Again, \u00a9 New Mexico News Services 2011<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In 1992, a little organization sprang up in New Mexico called \u201cDrive the Rascals Out,\u201d\u00a0 calling on voters to vote all incumbents out of the state legislature.\u00a0 This organization appeared to have just one member \u2013Marvin something \u2013 but it … Continue reading