Term Busters

...Recently, Sanford ran into his friend Sam Brownback, one of the most vocal members of the '94 House class, who was elected to the Senate in 1996 to fill Bob Dole's seat...

...Westview...

...All of a sudden they controlled a majority of seats they didn't want to give up...

...1 1 1 1 1 1 1 LINDA KILLIAN ack in 1992, when Republicans were wandering in the wilderness trying to figure out how to recapture the legislative branch, the idea of imposing term limits on members of Congress sounded good...

...The biggest evidence of that is the free-spending ways of the formerly parsimonious Class of '94...

...He actually points to his toppling of a sitting speaker as proof that term limits aren't necessary: "I'm probably the best reason in the country why we don't need term limits...

...Term Limits asking him to pledge not to serve more than three terms, the same limit the voters of his home state Arizona had endorsed in a 1992 referendum...

...Term Limits can defeat Nethercutt, the group will be emboldened and energized, but if he is re-elected the movement will die...

...Salmon does not rule out a run for governor of Arizona in 2002, and Sanford says he might consider a future run for governor or the Senate...

...Nethercutt will not say how many more terms he might seek...

...It frees you up to say what you think and do what is right, even if it does not necessarily win friends and influence too many of your colleagues...

...The only thing U.S...

...But can they get winners to keep that pledge...

...I've changed my mind...

...TOO BAD THE ONLY ONES WHO WILL ARE THOSE THE HOUSE CAN LEAST AFFORD TO LOSE...

...Had he not publicly made that pledge, he admits, he would now probably be tempted to stay...

...It's an epidemic illness around here...

...Term Limits, the Washington-based group formed in 1992 to push term limits for all elected officials from local to national office and members of Congress who impetuously signed the group's pledge to limit their own terms...

...and it was the only item in the Contract that didn't pass the House...

...A lot of that has to do with self-protection, pleasing the people who give you big campaign contributions so you can get reelected, and bringing home pork to keep the voters of your district happy...

...I want people to tell me when I'm full of crap...

...I don't want to be associated with people that tell the Americans one thing and do another," he says...

...There are things that can captivate you and seduce you...

...But if everyone were held to the same limit, "power would get dispersed more quickly," he admits...

...When Matt Salmon was running for Congress in '94 he got a letter from U.S...

...But last year, after reportedly promising GOP leaders that she would seek another term if given a leadership position, Fowler was elected vice chairman of the House Republican Conference, the number-five position in the House leadership...

...The others—Scott McInnis of Colorado, Tillie Fowler of Florida, and Martin Meehan of Massachusetts (the only Democrat among them) —have either definitively announced their plans to stay or are now equivocating...

...That's where they have the most traction...

...We're handing out just as much pork as the Democrats ever did...

...But leaving the House doesn't necessarily mean leaving politics...

...It doesn't matter who's president, it doesn't matter who is in control of Congress...

...He will not limit himself in any way: "This is a matter of service...

...Salmon says he sees himself "kind of like a political Rambo" — get in, get the job done, and get out...

...Another member of the Class of '94 still committed to the idea of term limits is Van Hilleary of Tennessee...

...For the next year, he recognizes, he will be known nationally as the guy who broke his pledge...

...The proprietor asked him, "If you're elected are you going to stay...

...Coburn believes this is why the Republicans lost seats in the last two elections...

...He remains in favor of the idea of term limits, but only if they apply to all members...

...As Sanford explains, "There's a natural distrust of Washington things in country life, where I come from...

...I made a mistake when I chose to set a limit on my service...

...McInnis, through a spokesman, merely says he changed his mind...

...I felt, in the interest of my district, I couldn't walk away and not give people some chance to vote for me...

...A spokesman for Brownback says the senator does not recall the conversation and does not think he ever said this...

...Serving in Congress "you're disconnected from reality" says Sanford, who for his entire five years in Washington has refused to buy a house or even rent an apartment and instead sleeps on the couch in his office...

...When Fowler ran for Congress in 1992 her slogan was "eight is enough," meaning years...

...He is not happy about it...

...He will be going back to his medical practice, which he has The American Spectator • September 1999 kept up while in Congress...

...They've already paid for billboard ("Thanks For Keeping Your Word...

...When lobbyists kowtow to you it can be really nice...

...The only people who don't change their mind are in cemeteries and insane asylums," said Nethercutt back in his district when he announced his decision...

...After you've been in Washington for more than a year "you're more interested in playing the game so you don't rock the boat, you're interested in rubbing someone's back so they'll rub yours," agrees Coburn...

...To sum up my whole existence on the basis of a change of heart...

...I don't kowtow to the party thing," contends Salmon...

...If you're worried about a committee assignment they've got you, they hold all the carrots...

...GOP leaders, who had paid lip service to the idea, offered tepid support when term limits came to a vote during the first ion LINDA KILLIAN, a Washington journalist, is author of The Freshmen: What Happened to the Republican Revolution...

...Sanford reminded his friend that they had come to Washington to cut government, not to redistribute and add to the marbles already in the game...

...But according to Sanford, Brownback replied: "This is the way it works in the Senate, you can get anything you want for your state as long as you're trading marbles...

...Now that we're in the majority the Republican Party doesn't seem to be interested in that anymore...

...After the Supreme Court struck down an Arkansas term limits law as unconstitutional, the idea dropped off the radar screen...

...If you're free enough to be bold you can make a difference," says Sanford...

...I think the character issue is going to be devastating for him...

...Salmon feels most of his classmates from '94 have changed since they joined one of the world's most exclusive clubs...

...In a letter to her local 36 September 1999 • The American Spectator newspaper written shortly thereafter, Fowler claimed she still supports the idea of term limits, and has no intention "of being a career congressperson," but may seek one more term because of the benefits her enhanced status could bestow on her district...

...Note that he says "conservative," not "Republican...

...Mark Sanford distinctly remembers the moment he decided to term limit himself...

...I've had enough of Washington," insists Salmon, who has missed countless important family events because of his congressional schedule, including his children's baseball games and school plays and his father's 75th birthday...

...Salmon, Sanford, and Coburn remain among the most outspoken and independent of the members of the Class of '94, frequently willing to buck the leadership and oppose spending programs...

...This year Coburn and Sanford took to the floor for 14 hours straight in an attempt to trim spending on the appropriations bills and get Congress to live within the spending caps passed in 1997...

...I have left myself no room for waffling and I expect to be held accountable for that promise...

...Sanford said no, and the barber replied, "That's good because I think after two terms you ought to take congressmen out back and shoot them...

...Voters support integrity and honor and George Nethercutt has thrown all those away...

...A local paper editorialized that Fowler's decision comes down to "ambition versus integrity...

...I do believe the party thing is out of control on both sides...

...More than a dozen states passed term limits initiatives...

...When Coburn talks about his colleagues who have been in Congress for a while, he uses the term "careerists" in the same tone you can imagine Julia Child taking when she talks about McDonald's...

...I just don't think Washington is ever going to have the will to change itself," says Salmon...

...radio, and TV advertising in his district...

...Whether I like it or not this is still a seniority system," he says, and as such, it takes time to work one's way up on a committee...

...When he was running in 1994, Nethercutt tells me, "six years seemed like a long time...

...The future for U.S...

...It isn't a matter of going beyond that...

...Term Limits is clearly in convincing candidates for open seats to take their pledge...

...I'm just trying to get the job done...

...The longer someone's in Washington the less connected they are to us...

...I COULDN'T WALK AWAY AND NOT GIVE PEOPLE SOME CHANCE TO VOTE FOR ME...

...They are now forced to live with their decision...

...That to me outweighed my declaration on this particular issue...

...He still strongly supports the three-term limit the Republicans imposed on committee chairs when they took over the House because "the seniority system has the power to be corrupting...

...Most challengers signed...

...Jacob of U.S...

...Oh that, you can't do that,'" Sanford says Brownback responded...

...If this was something new for the voters you'd see a tremendous political backlash, but I think the political ramifications will be minimal...

...Once you're here awhile, 5o million dollars becomes a rounding error...

...Maybe, maybe not...

...But once he got to Congress he realized that "to try to get all your goals accomplished in six years is too short...

...Term Limits...

...Term Limits can do is go out and try to recruit a new crop of Coburns, Salmons, and Sanfords—which is exactly what the group is doing...

...Senators can acquire power and committee chairmanships fairly quickly, but because of the House's great size, "it takes about 10 to 12 years to establish enough influence to set an agenda," Hilleary says...

...The longer people stay the more indistinguishable the parties are," agrees Salmon...

...If the GOP couldn't blast out the Democrats by means of the ballot box, they'd force them out by keeping them from running for re-election...

...I'm seen as a pain in the butt...

...power game, stroke the leadership, or worry about raising money and setting up a campaign organization for the next election...

...Term limits proponents poured money into Nethercutt's campaign, stressing that Foley not only opposed term limits but had sued the voters of his state because they passed a term limits referendum...

...I'm mortal...

...They get beat into submission, into playing the game—the good ol' boy network—it's really sad...

...Nethercutt insists he wrestled with breaking his promise but "I feel I have to finish the work I started...

...I felt in my heart that it's right for me to change my mind...

...But for now, he appreciates the value to his constituents of his seat on the Appropriations Committee: "I'm in a position to help my district...

...If you're on that train, they're the conductor...

...Hilleary first made his mark in the early days of the io4th Congress as sponsor of a term limits amendment to the Constitution...

...Tom Coburn was an Oklahoma doctor before he was elected to the House in 1994, promising to serve only three terms...

...Hilleary, Coburn, Sanford, and Salmon all agree that term limits would probably help to cut the budget...

...Now the congressman, who has a young family and a real estate business back in South Carolina, seems eager to head home...

...If that's what our district wants then that's what our district ought to have," says Coburn without a trace of remorse, although he does say he intends to try to ensure that "another conservative" is elected to represent the district...

...Nethercutt insists that term limits was not the only reason he defeated Foley: "He and I differed on a wide range of issues...

...Suddenly pork wasn't such an evil thing if it was their pork...

...Almost all of the members on the U.S...

...Certainly Jacob's group plans to do what it can to defeat Nethercutt...

...You never want to become that which you ran against," says Sanford quietly, of the cautionary tale that could be told about most remaining members from the Class of '94.* 38 September 1999 • The American Spectator...

...People suck up to you...

...Jacob and company will save their firepower for Nethercutt, and for convincing candidates in open-seat races to sign the term limits pledge...

...I said, `Sam how do you like it in the Senate?' He said, `I'm having a ball.'" To which Sanford replied, "You are—we're having a miserable time over here getting our teeth kicked in" trying to cut spending...

...He favors a 12-year limit and has pledged to serve no longer than that in the House...

...He was considering a run for office in 1994 when he stopped by a country barber shop in Moncks Corner, South Carolina...

...The only people still talking about the issue seem to be the folks at U.S...

...Salmon, who frequently clashed with Newt Gingrich and supported his ouster as speaker, recalls that Gingrich "always wanted people who told him how wonderful he was...

...The test will be Nethercutt's race for re-election...

...After a while, the spirit of "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em" takes over...

...Again he wrote to his constituents: "I have come to realize over the past seven years that, with the failure of term limits nationally, to arbitrarily limit my own service puts the people I represent at a disadvantage...

...Coburn admits he has considered leaving the GOP to become an independent...

...Next year, the first of these self-term limited members will be heading home to spend more time with their families and find other jobs...

...Indeed, the public seems to have been in a forgiving mood lately toward Washington politicians who break their word...

...If someone is looking to build a political career their career comes first and what they believe in gets thrown out the window," insists Jacob...

...But Hilleary doesn't think three terms is enough time to really make a difference in Washington...

...Term Limits says that since McInnis and Fowler come from safely Republican districts and Meehan from a solidly Democratic one, they aren't likely to face much of a challenge for re-election, and his group probably won't spend much effort reminding voters of their broken promise...

...There are six Republicans elected in '94 who vowed to serve no more than three terms in the House...

...Term Limits list have been elected since 1992, and nearly half are in their first or second term...

...Only one, George Nethercutt of Washington, the term limits poster boy of '94 has decided to break his pledge...

...I think term limits are a good idea but I think the concept is essentially dead," concludes Hilleary...

...Like his colleagues, Hilleary believes that Washington changes people...

...In trying to hold on to power, rather than using it to accomplish something, Sanford says the Republicans have "lost sight of the very principles which got us here...

...Those who boil down your entire existence to this particular issue are just wrong...

...Meehan, like Salmon, made the bold gesture of handing the clerk of the House his post-dated resignation when he arrived in Washington...

...days of the io4th Congress...

...As recently as last February Nethercutt , was still saying that six years was 35 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 NETHERCUTT NOW APPRECIATES THE VALUE TO HIS CONSTITUENTS OF HIS SEAT ON THE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: "I'M IN A POSITION TO HELP MY DISTRICT...

...Washington can be a nice place for congressmen, who are constantly surrounded by staffers eager to please and lobbyists seeking their votes...

...Unfortunately the voters have grown to expect it from people in politics," says Sanford of Nethercutt and other members who have decided to break their term limits promise...

...I say judge me on my record, my accomplishments, my honesty in admitting I made a mistake...

...I'd like to see seniority become less important...

...Salmon and Sanford voice almost no regret about their decision, and seem relieved at not having to play the D.C...

...This spring Meehan announced he had changed his mind and would seek another term...

...I've been a rebel since I've been here...

...Coburn has succeeded in getting $1.5 billion trimmed from various appropriations bills—not a tremendous amount in the whole scheme of things, but something...

...Nethercutt defeated the Democratic Speaker of the House Tom Foley largely over the issue...

...But he insists that "they wouldn't have been the same kind of congressmen if they hadn't been term limited...

...If there is no punishment from the voters, we can expect many more promise-makers to change their minds...

...There's just as many pork pushers among the Republicans as the Democrats," asserts Coburn...

...But when the Republicans won the House in 1994 their view of the matter changed...

...Popular with Perot voters and many conservatives, term limits became one of the items in the Contract With America...

...A lthough he's glad they're keeping their promise, Jacob of U. S. Term Limits admits "there's a part of me that hates to see these guys leave...

...Five of them—Helen Chenoweth of Idaho and Jack Metcalf of Washington, along with Coburn, Salmon, and Sanford—say they plan to honor that commitment...

...I don't think I'm disrespected, I think I'm not liked very much," says Coburn bluntly...

...Sanford, who ran in a seven-candidate Republican primary, made term limits a big part of his platform and can recall many a Rotary Club forum where he told his potential constituents, "Not only will I fight for term limits, if I'm elected 34 September 1999 • The American Spectator I will not serve more than three terms.' That promise helped get me elected...

...If you're not at least a subcommittee chair you can't really set an agenda...

...We think we can change the Congress in a few election cycles in a pretty dramatic way by getting people to limit themselves...

...I signed it and said sure," Salmon recalls...

...Knowing you're not coming back after next year allows you to be "free to be an a--hole," asserts the usually soft-spoken Sanford...

...Candidates running for Congress in 1994 were asked to sign a pledge limiting the number of terms they would serve...

...People who campaigned against Congress have become what they campaigned against...

...Rather than being a lame duck, you're a free duck...

...T here are also four members elected in 1992 who pledged to serve only eight years, but of this group, only Charles Canady of Florida says he still plans to leave...

...I think the people who break their word are in deep, deep trouble," declares Paul Jacob, national director of U.S...

...But couldn't Foley have made the same argument in 1994, especially as speaker of the House...

...They wouldn't have had the same amount of courage...

...Coburn is only the second Republican to be elected to Congress from Oklahoma's 2nd District, where registered Democrats far outnumber Republicans, and there's a good chance the seat will go back to the Democrats when Coburn leaves office...

...We get so hung up on the party thing we miss the bigger picture," says Sanford...

...Passing welfare reform and balancing the budget may have taken some of the steam out of the term limits sentiment around the country, he speculates...

...When he arrived in Washington he handed the clerk of the House his resignation dated January 2001...

...III IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII long enough to serve in the House, but in June he announced that he would run for re-election in z000...

...Now the same term limits advocates who backed Nethercutt five years ago are lining up to burn him at the stake...

...Nor are they looking to Washington lawmakers to solve all their problems...

...it's rather silly and self-righteous...

...Jacob says the group plans "to concentrate most of our efforts in open races, where there's not an incumbent...

...Content with a booming economy, people don't seem as angry as in 1994...

...One House member suggests that if U.S...

...In 1993 Meehan wrote a column for his local newspaper the Lowell Sun in which he declared: "I am committed to serve no more than eight years in the House of Representatives no matter what happens to national term limit legislation...

...If you're only in Washington for a few terms instead of building a career, those concerns become less important...

...It got people thinking," says Sanford...

...You can't afford to offend people when you're trying to climb the ladder...

...Since Republicans took control of Congress, spending has actually increased for most of the programs pegged for extinction in the Contract With America, including the cabinet agencies the freshmen of '94 talked about getting rid of...

...Nethercutt has countered with almost $50,000 of his own advertising on TV to explain to his constituents why he changed his mind...

...I don't think people think I'm wacko or a The American Spectator • September 1999 37 nut, they just think I'm too much of a purist...