Term Limits

WASHINGTON -- Republican Reps. Tom Coburn and George Nethercutt were elected to Congress in 1994 as part of a wave of "citizen" lawmakers who pledged to stay only six years and then return to life among their constituents.Now in his last term, Coburn says he's been liberated to act as he sees fit and to answer to no one on Capitol Hill. The Oklahoman has made it his mission to force Congress to meet spending caps and vows to tie up the House all summer in an effort to trim costly pet projects.

IS IT POSSIBLE THAT THE Republican Party is getting too strong for its own good in Western Maryland?Republicans are solidly entrenched in most elective offices in the state's western end -- so entrenched that some officeholders are getting a bit restless.The prime example is state Sen. Larry E. Haines, a third-term Republican from Carroll County, who is shaking up the party by threatening to take on incumbent Rep. Roscoe G. Bartlett in next year's congressional primary.Such intraparty challenges of sitting members of Congress are fairly rare, but Haines says he's waited long enough for Bartlett to step aside.

IT BEGINS to look as though what we have here is a bad idea whose time is passing. Sometimes you get lucky.A number of U.S. House members who had been elected promising to quit after three or four terms see the clock swinging around on them like death's own scythe. It perhaps will not astonish you to find that a number, upon sober reflection and in consideration of the best interests of the republic, are leaning to the proposition that the nation should not be denied an opportunity for their further ministrations.

WASHINGTON -- In the 1936 campaign, after four years of increased federal spending, President Franklin D. Roosevelt was to campaign in Pittsburgh, where in the 1932 campaign he had called for reduced federal spending. FDR directed his speech writer, Samuel Rosenman, to "see whether you can prepare a draft giving a good and convincing explanation" of his somersault. Rosenman read the 1932 speech and told FDR only one explanation would do: "The only thing you can say about that 1932 speech is to deny categorically that you ever made it."

Ethics probes highlight need for term limitsAre all our politicians unethical? Are they enriching themselves or their friends at the expense of taxpayers?First we have Larry Young, then Gerald J. Curran. And now House Speaker Casper R. Taylor Jr. is being investigated by the legislatur's ethics committee.Who's next?This is a good example of why we need term limits for all political offices, from president down to the county councils.It won't stop all unethical politicians from stealing from us, but it will help limit their ability.

More than 50 people crowded into a classroom at Carroll Community College last night to voice support for a new form of government for Carroll County.Carroll is the only county in the metropolitan area that does not have a county executive and a County Council. It is governed by three commissioners who have executive and legislative functions.The commissioners reluctantly appointed a nine-member panel May 26 to draft a charter for a new form of government after proponents forced the issue by collecting 4,858 signatures from registered voters during a countywide petition drive.

IN A richly deserved curt dismissal, the Supreme Court has rebuffed states that have sought to bypass it and the Constitution by adopting a pernicious practice known as "scarlet letter initiatives."Last year, nine states adopted such initiatives, decreeing that if their representatives in Congress did not vote for a specific term-limits provision, their apostasy would be cited on the ballot in subsequent elections.By a delicious irony, this helped defeat the key legislative effort to pass a proposed constitutional amendment to limit Senate and House service to 12 years in each chamber.

DOUGLAS B. RILEY, a Baltimore County councilman, is the latest testament to the folly of term limits. Seven years ago, the Towson Republican promised to serve only two four-year terms if elected to the County Council. He expected most people would be burned out after eight years, he said. We also suspect that Mr. Riley sensed that such a promise would serve him well with voters. Discontent with government was mile-high then. Voters were enamored of the idea of regularly infusing politics with fresh blood.

WASHINGTON -- The movement to impose term limits on members of Congress suffered a devastating defeat last night, with a proposed constitutional amendment not only failing in the House but receiving fewer votes than it did two years ago.The vote marks the end of any serious effort to enact a term-limits amendment, which served as the battle flag of the anti-Washington armies a few years ago, at least for the duration of the 105th Congress. Its prospects in the Senate had always been dim.The vote of 217-211 not only fell 69 votes short of the two-thirds majority required for constitutional amendments, but the ayes were also 10 below the 227 in 1995, when the tally was 227-204.

President Clinton, who turns 51 today, is on his way to becoming the youngest ex-two-term president ever. At only 54 he will face a predicament John Kennedy, who would have been only 51 had he served two terms, defined this way: "Too old to begin a new career, too young to write my memoirs."A president is forced into retirement after two terms by the 22nd Amendment to the Constitution. But could the 22nd be repealed? All previous attempts have failed. A few years back, when efforts to get Congress to act on repeal were faltering, James M. Sparling Jr., a legislative aide working on repeal resolutions, said this: "We recognize it's not exactly a burning issue.

U.S. soldier sentenced in killing of prisoners VILSECK, Germany: A U.S. soldier pleaded guilty yesterday to charges of accessory to murder and was sentenced to eight months in prison for his role in the killing of four Iraqi prisoners who were bound, blindfolded, shot and dumped in a canal. Spc. Steven Ribordy, 25, of Salina, Kan., also will receive a bad conduct discharge from the Army as part of a plea deal. In addition, he agreed to testify against other members of his unit. Ribordy testified that he had helped stand guard as the prisoners were killed by other members of his patrol in early 2007.

CHICAGO -- When Republican Helen Chenoweth ran for Congress in Idaho in 1994, she not only endorsed term limits on members but pledged she would leave Washington after three terms no matter what. But something strange happened in 2000, when it was time for Ms. Chenoweth to step down: She did it. What was she thinking? In 2000, when Republican Timothy V. Johnson ran for Congress in a central Illinois district, he promised he would serve a maximum of six years. Voters may have been skeptical, since Mr. Johnson had spent the previous 24 years in the Illinois General Assembly, but he was adamant.

The Jack Abramoff scandal has put political corruption front and center in Washington, but this particular scandal, or even this particular kind of scandal, barely scratches the surface of corruption in government. It is not that all members of Congress, or even most members of Congress, are taking outright bribes. Government is corrupted whenever it is diverted from its avowed purpose and directed toward some other goal, especially goals that conflict with its purpose. This more general kind of corruption is much bigger than a few bribes and has far weightier consequences.

I don't make $1 million a year, but I think every member of Congress should be paid at least that much. It's not because those turkeys in Washington deserve it. It's because we deserve a lot better people than we have in Congress. The cost of paying every member of Congress $1 million a year is absolutely trivial compared with the vast amounts of the taxpayers' money wasted by cheap politicians doing things to get themselves re-elected. You could pay every member of Congress $1 million a year for a century for less money than it costs to run the Agriculture Department for one year.

There was a time when candidates put some effort into their campaign slogans. The classics include William Henry Harrison's "Tippecanoe and Tyler Too" and Herbert Hoover's "A chicken in every pot and a car in every garage." California's recall, in contrast, is a slogan disaster. The only attempts are ultraconservative Tom McClintock's "Building a bridge to the 15th century" and Gabor sister impersonator Arianna Huffington's "Read my lips: No new taxes. Well, not for me, at least. My accountants know all the loopholes."

Republican John R. Leopold, a five-term state delegate from Pasadena, is taking the first steps toward a bid for county executive in 2006. Leopold, 60, said yesterday that he would not comment on his candidacy until today. But he has launched a Web site, www.johnleopold.com, that lists a 55-person steering committee. The banner of the site: "Delegate John Leopold for County Executive." The former Hawaii state senator and representative has served as a Maryland delegate for all but one four-year term since 1983.

In Washington Bush to nominate former astronaut as NASA deputy chief President Bush intends to nominate Charles F. Bolden to be deputy administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the White House said late yesterday. Bolden, a 1968 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, is the commanding general of the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing in San Diego. In 1980, NASA selected Bolden as an astronaut candidate, and he qualified in 1981 as a space shuttle pilot. He went on to fly four missions.

WASHINGTON -- Americans groping for normality wonder when they can laugh again. How about: Right now. Now that a White House aide tells Time magazine that to keep Americans focused on the war, perhaps there should be a super-duper pop music concert for -- get this -- "educating a new generation of Americans on what war is all about." And now that the vaudevillian Jesse Jackson has been in an argument with the Taliban about whether he invited himself to Afghanistan (the Taliban said he did)

NEW YORK - It certainly had to be one of the strangest mayoral primary days in the history of this city, but at least, New Yorkers said yesterday, it was democracy in action again. Two weeks after Sept. 11 primary voting was halted because of the World Trade Center attack, voters returned to the polls to cast their ballots in primaries for a number of city offices. Candidates billed it as a defiant show of civic pride, and, sure enough, New Yorkers put on quite a show yesterday. Some were voting a second time in the same election (their Sept.

NEW YORK - New York Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, who has won worldwide praise for his leadership after the attack on the World Trade Center, dropped hints yesterday that he might sanction a write-in campaign - a move that would further roil the city's chaotic election picture. Term limits bar Giuliani from serving a third stint in the mayor's office. Six candidates are vying in today's primary for a chance to succeed him. But a groundswell is building to keep Giuliani in office, and the mayor has not discouraged published speculation that he and his aides are exploring ways for him to seek re-election.