Moving up, on, out or over.

• Author: Rhyme, Nancy
• Position: Turnover of leaders in state legislatures

Despite public perception that legislators and, most certainly, leaders remain in their positions for a very long time, there's more turnover than most people believe. Only three Senate presidents who held the office in 1985 were still there in 1995. Similarly, only four speakers were still in office after 10 years of service. The trend was the same for other leaders in the years between 1985 and 1995.

There's no reason to believe that 1997 will be any different. Already, more than 20 leaders have announced that they are not running for reelection in November. Last month, State Legislatures featured nine leaders who have announced their retirements. This month, we've talked to 11 more. The September issue will feature others.

Arizona House Majority Leader Ernie Baird, active for nearly 20 years at the Republican precinct and district levels, was appointed to the House in March of 1991. He served as chairman of the Judiciary Committee for three years and was elected majority leader in 1995.

In his five years in the legislature, Baird worked on juvenile justice reform and redrafting the criminal code. "Truth in sentencing was my contribution," he says. An attorney, he also handled most of the revisions to Arizona's business laws and pushed through an extensive bill that deals with corporations.

He's not running for another term, he says, because as he mulled over the possibility of running for attorney general in 1998, he didn't always like how he was making legislative decisions. "I felt that as I started to think about running for another office, it started to affect the way I was voting," he said. "I didn't like that feeling."

He says he's going to spend some quality time with his family and "make some money practicing law."

After 28 years in the New Hampshire House, Speaker Harold Burns is not running for reelection. He has been speaker for six years. Burns says he has always considered himself a "process" leader. Rather than concentrating on a specific political agenda, he has worked to professionalize the legislative process so that members can do their jobs most effectively. In New Hampshire's citizen legislature where the staff is essentially clerical, it is the 400 House members and 24 senators who do the actual work of producing legislation. Speaker Burns has actively promoted continuing education for members and the use of computer technology. He also spearheaded changes in House committees and added members to the leadership team...