GREENFIELD — A press release by U.S. Term Limits (USTL) has announced that Representative District 53 candidate Kevin Mandrell of New Palestine has signed in support of the group’s term limits convent pledge for term limits on Congress.
USTL, a national non-partisan movement to limit terms for elected officials, said that their mission is to get 34 states to apply for an amendment proposal convention specific to term limits served in Congress.
Representative District 53 candidate Ethan Lawson of Greenfield also signed the pledge earlier last week.
“Kevin’s and Ethan’s strong support of term limits shows that there are individuals who are willing to listen to the majority of voters who want term limits. America needs a Congress that will be served by citizen legislators, not career politicians,” said Philip Blumel, USTL president, in the press release.
According to the press release, the pledge is provided to candidates and members of state legislatures, reading “I pledge that, as a member of the state legislature, I will cosponsor, vote for, and defend the resolution applying for an Article V convention for the sole purpose of enacting term limits on Congress.”
Currently, U.S. Senators serve six-year terms and House Representatives serve two-year terms with no limits, meaning they are eligible for reelection as long as they meet qualifications.
Nick Tomboulides, executive director of USTL, said in the press release that the best chance of imposing term limits on Congress is through an Article V Proposal Convention of state legislatures. However, in Thornton v. U.S. Term Limits case, decided in 1995, ruled that only a Constitutional Amendment could limit the terms of the U.S. Senators and House Representatives.
“The Constitution allows for amendments to be proposed by either 2/3 of Congress or 2/3 of the states. While we’d like for Congress to take the high road and propose term limits on itself, our goal is to trigger the latter, a national convention specifically for a term limits amendment,” said Tomboulides in the press release. “That is why it is important to get buy-in from state legislators.”
Once proposed, the amendment must be ratified by 38 states.
“More than 87% of Americans have rejected the career politician model and want to replace it with citizen leadership. The way to achieve that goal is through a congressional term limits amendment. Kevin and Ethan know this and are willing to work to make sure we reach our goal,” said Tomboulides in the press release.
According to a poll conducted by Pew Research on term limits, analysis states that “An overwhelming majority of adults (87%) favor limiting the number of terms that members of Congress are allowed to serve. This includes a majority 56% who strongly favor this proposal, just 12% are opposed.”
