The battle over term limits: concluding that term limits were bad for the state, Idaho lawmakers this session repealed a term limits law passed by voters in 1994. Now they face a political quagmire the likes of which they have never seen.

• Author: Hoffman, Wayne
• Position: Interview

Bruce Newcomb had become the lightning rod.

And he knew it.

A straight-talking rancher from the small town of Burley in southern Idaho, Newcomb's slightly slurred speaking style and easy-going disposition could easily leave a person fooled about his political guile.

But Newcomb is no fool. Sixteen years in the Legislature had taught him a thing or two about politics. So in 1999, when he set foot in the marbled corridors of the Idaho Statehouse as the new speaker of the Idaho House of Representatives, he was determined to put a stop to the immediate ouster of hundreds of local elected officials, who would be unable to have their names on the ballot if term limits remained in place.

If successful, Idaho would be the first state in the nation to repeal the law through legislative action. That was obvious. The next obvious result: It would push some lawmakers into a political quagmire the likes of which they had never seen.

The fight would take place during the most tumultuous legislative sessions in recent years--during the worst budget crisis in two decades, amid an open-ended redistricting process that had veteran lawmakers unsure about where their legislative boundaries would be in 2002 and whether old friends would face each other in the upcoming election.

The fight would happen even if it complicated the upcoming elections for statewide office, including that of Newcomb's wife Representative celia Gould, who hopes to be the state's next lieutenant governor.

It would happen even if it meant pitting the Republican-controlled Legislature head-on against Republican Governor Dirk Kempthorne, whose past refusal to favor a term limits repeal cast a cloud over New-comb's chance of success.

But Newcomb was convinced, and there was no going back. The reasons were plainly obvious, he said. "Everything for me is what I think is in the best interest of Idaho and my district."

When voters themselves put term limits on the ballot in 1994, the measure's supporters spent $82,000 to get 59 percent of the vote. About 90 percent of the money came from out-of-state. Four years later, when the Legislature asked voters if they wanted to keep term limits in place, backers, again mostly from out-of-state, dumped more than $500,000 into the campaign, while opponents spent about $60,000. The question passed with 53 percent of the vote.

The Idaho Supreme Court in December ruled the state's 1994 voter-approved term limits law was constitutional. The results of that decision would be immediate.

Local elected leaders would be the first to go. Dozens of county commissioners, assessors, sheriffs, coroners, treasurers and county clerks across the state were barred from having their names on the ballot this election season.

Speaker Newcomb did his spadework. When lawmakers returned to Boise in January, term limits was the first issue they took up. The repeal passed quickly--and overwhelmingly--in both chambers, the house on Jan. 24 and the Senate six days later. The reaction--by the public, the press and the governor--was swift, sharp and severe. Kempthorne vetoed the bill the same day it reached his desk, and the Legislature lost no time overriding the veto.

Since the vote, legislators have been bombarded with complaints. Letters to the editor of the state's capital city newspaper, The Idaho Statesman, overwhelmingly condemn the vote. They call the lawmakers arrogant, unthinking misfits who deserve to have their punishments unleashed at the polls this May and November.

Nasty letters, e-mails and phone calls poured in to the Legislature. By early in February, lawmakers had received 3,042 phone calls. By the same time a year ago, legislators had received only 1,822 calls.

Constituents sent in 5,624 e-mail messages by the end of February's first week. In 2001, lawmakers collected 2,968 e-mails, a slight increase over 2000's volume of 2,956 in early February.

The weekend after the historic vote on term limits, lawmakers reported verbal whippings all across the state--in stores, in church and at local meeting places.

"And these are my friends," said Mike Moyle, a second-term conservative Republican representative from Star. It was only a year ago that his constituents were singing his praises as one of the leaders of an...