Hutchison and the Republican Hypocrisy on Term Limits
Among the most recycled quotes on this web site is Karl Marx's old chestnut that historical events occur twice, first as tragedy and then as farce. And so it is with the latest cynical Republican call for Congressional term limits. After sweeping into the majority with their disingenuous term limits pledge in the 1994 Contract with America, Republicans including Jim Demint (R-SC) and Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) are back with a proposed constitutional amendment limiting House members to three and Senators to two terms, respectively. Of course, that's a promise that Hutchison and many of her GOP colleagues in Congress broke long ago.
Along with Oklahoma's Tom Coburn and Kansan Sam Brownback,Senators Demint and Hutchison doubtless exhumed the old GOP term limits pledge to appease the frothing at the mouth Tea Baggers now dominating their party. As Demint touted the amendment:
"Americans know real change in Washington will never happen until we end the era of permanent politicians. As long as members have the chance to spend their lives in Washington, their interests will always skew toward spending taxpayer dollars to buy off special interests, covering over corruption in the bureaucracy, fundraising, relationship building among lobbyists, and trading favors for pork - in short, amassing their own power."
But if it seems like history is repeating itself, that's because it is.
In 1994, the GOP rode the Contract with America and its call for term limits to an overwhelming victory in the midterm elections. Newt Gingrich, the architect of the '94 Republican Revolution, saw the term limits pledge as an essential ingredient to retaking the House. But in 1991, Gingrich called terms limits "a terrible idea." To no one's surprise, many of his Republican colleagues who took the pledge now agree with him.
As I noted three years ago ("Republican Terms Unlimited"), Tennessee Representative Zach Wamp and Arizona's Jeff Flake were among 8 House Republicans breaking their three-terms-and-out oath. The others included Barbara Cubin of Wyoming, Phil English of Pennsylvania, Timothy V. Johnson of Illinois, Ric Keller of Florida, Frank A. LoBiondo of New Jersey and Mark Souder of Indiana. As the story noted, apparently no penalty applies for breach of Contract with America: "All are seeking re-election; all are solid favorites to win."
Arizona's Jeff Flake is an excellent example of the cynicism and hypocrisy of the one-time GOP commitment to term limits. A rising star in party, Flake now says of his campaign 2000 pledge, "It was a mistake to limit my own terms." (In 2004, Wamp similiarly announced his promise was "a mistake.") With the GOP then solidly in control of the House, Flake in April 2006 claimed that the party's term limits movement "just petered out." Flake's assessment that his pledge was "a big mistake" no doubt disappointed his supporters at U.S. Terms Limits, who crowed in 2000 that "Arizona's first district now clearly has a great term limits tradition."
Texas Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison is another member of the '94 Republican class who casually decided to break her two-term pledge. In the summer of 2005, Hutchison announced she would run for a third Senate term rather than challenge Republican incumbent Rick Perry in the race for Governor. (That third term won, Hutchison is now leaving the Senate in a long-shot attempt to wrest the GOP gubernatorial nomination away from Perry.) But on election night in 1994, Hutchison made a commitment to term limits:
"I've always said that I would serve no more than two full terms. This may be my last term, or I could run for one more. But no more after that. I firmly believe in term limitations and I plan to adhere to that."
As it turns out, not so much. According to USA Today, Senator Hutchison in 2006 said "she still supports term limits but would not bind herself unless senators from other states also left after two terms."
One Republican who may eventually have paid a price for violating his term limits pledge was Washington's George Nethercutt. In 1994, Nethercutt led the wave of GOP term limiters, sweeping out 30 year Democratic veteran Tom Foley. But by 1999, Nethercutt unsurprisingly had a change of heart. But Nethercutt and other Republican "term limit traitors" suffered no payback, at least not until 2004. His comeuppance came in a 55%-43% loss in a Senate race against Democrat Patty Murray. While President Bush in 2004 called Nethercutt a "decent man who not only talks the talk, but he walks the walk", the voters of Washington state clearly thought otherwise.
Of course, Americans have short memories, a trait Republicans count on every two years. When it comes to GOP posturing on term limits, as George W. Bush famously put it, "fool me once, shame on -- shame on you. Fool me -- you can't get fooled again."
UPDATE: With her chances of defeating Perry in the Texas GOP primary growing more remote, Kay Bailey Hutchison has announced she won't resign her Senate seat.
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To help keep things in perspective, let’s note that Democratic senator become superheroic legend Paul Wellstone also made a two-term pledge to get elected and then happily broke that pledge.
Gingrich probably was right about mandatory term limits being a bad idea, although breaking a pledge made to get elected is another thing.
Posted by Barry Schwartz on November 13, 2009 7:49 PM