I have written a lot on the issue of concentration of power in the legislature.
A recent N & O editorial
is right on target. It argues that there needs to be term limits
on the House Speaker and the Senate president pro tem positions.
The
power problem goes beyond these two positions. The legislative
rules need to be changed to set limits on all committee chair positions
and to make it much easier to get bills out of the rules committees.
The
lobbyists able to gain access to the state oligarchy love concentrated
power–it makes it much easier to wield influence when they only have
to convince a few people of their position, not many people.
