1994 was the year that the Party of Gingrich ran away with landslide victories and ended 30 years of congressional domination by the Democrats. While many of us may stop to wonder how, few of us explore what's next.
A key component of their victory was the Contract With America. Read it at http://www.townhall.com/documents/contract.html .
But what's next for the signers? Retirement.
If you look to the bottom of the contract, you find a curious little entry called "the Citizen Legislature Act." Muahahaha.
More below the fold.
I live in Minnesota's 1st District, a rural lean-GOP that sent Gil Gutknecht back to his sixth term by twenty points this year. Throughout the campaign, working as a DFL volunteer, I began to hear speculation about Gutknecht's future ambitions. Allegations swirled as to a senate run. But why? Why would Gutknecht leave a safe district in 2006?
Because he has to. And maybe your congressman does, too.
Gutknecht has to leave because of that little "Citizen Legislature Act," tidbit in that itty bitty little contract. He voluntarily limited himself to six House terms. Well, Gil, don't let the door hit you on the way out.
Now, those of you who actually stopped to read the CWA are probably screaming that no explicit mention was made of term limits. Let me explain: all courts have repeatedly struck down state laws mandating term limits on federal representatives. The next step is, of course, a constitutional amendment.
Did you know that the House took a vote on that particular term limits amendment in 1994? While the Senate didn't, House members were busy legislating themselves into retirement. I can't find the exact vote count, but I know that Gutknecht voted to limit himself to six terms, and all senators to two.
I think we might catch ourselves some flip-floppers next year. Point is, let's get 'em, and make sure that they can't just vote for something before voting against it.
Let's use this. Let's get that list, and get our congress back!
UPDATE: The Citizen Legislature Act was introduced in the 105th Congress as HJ Res 173, according to http://www.newt.org/clientuploads/CWA10Year.pdf, its text is available at (http://www.lib.umich.edu/govdocs/text/hjr73.txt). We need to find out who supported HJ Res 73.