Bonded term limits and U.S. House cleaning

Posted by David N. Bass at 09:30 AM

Carolina Journal is one of the few media outlets to give ink (and bandwidth) to the topic of bonded term limits. Anthony Greco has a great report in CJTV on two Republican candidates in the 6th Congressional District who have pledged to surrender a considerable amount in personal assets if they break their three-term pledge. Last year, I wrote about a congressional candidate down east doing the same thing.

This morning, I contributed a column to The American Spectator on the subject, arguing that bonded term limits might be a good way to reinvigorate debate after the 1994 Republican Revolution failed to enact term-limit reform:

Tea partiers gunning for a thorough congressional purge still have reason to hope — if not for mandatory term limits, at least the voluntary brand. Prompted by the wave of anti-establishment sentiment sweeping the nation, candidates are increasingly following in the footsteps of George Washington by self-limiting their tenure in office.

Bonded term limits are an innovative way of doing that. The Alliance for Bonded Term Limits, a national nonpartisan group based in North Carolina, is spearheading the effort. It encourages candidates vying for elected office to put their money where their mouth is by promising to stay in office a maximum of three terms or forfeit a hefty chunk of their net worth.

Five congressional candidates, all Republicans, have signed the pledge, and others are in the pipeline. "This is a politician's word, integrity, and ethics on the line," said alliance president John Skvarla.

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