Issue Position: Term Limits and Redistricting

Issue Position

RETURN THE POWER TO THE PEOPLE

I believe that Abraham Lincoln said it best in his Gettysburg Address, government should be "of the people, by the people, and for the people." But today's government has lost its way. Many legislators no longer work for the people's interests, but for their own. Legislators stay too long, keeping themselves in power at all cost. Our founders designed our General Assembly to be a citizens' legislature, but far too many legislators make it their career and stay for decades, often many years beyond their capabilities. That would be acceptable if the people had a real opportunity to vote them out of office. But we don't. Current legislators have abused their power and protected their seats (at our expense) through redistricting, making it next to impossible to unseat an incumbent. So something must be done.

To combat this abuse of power, I support term limits for state legislators. I have not always supported term limits, and there are very strong arguments in opposition. I now believe, however, that the time has come for term limits to check the unadulterated power of unaccountable elected officials. I will remain flexible as to the exact parameters of a term-limit plan that I could support. But I believe term limits would return power to where it rightly belongs--the people. Again, my support is based on a belief that the system has gone off the rails and term limits is one way to get it back on track.

I also support a constitutional amendment to overhaul the way the General Assembly redistricts itself. Currently, the Democrats that control the House of Representative and the Republicans that control the Senate protect their power by making districts safe for members in their party. I was proud to serve as the lawyer to the Republicans in the House of Representatives in challenging the initial redistricting plan that the House Democrats enacted in 2010. We prevailed in that lawsuit in the trial court and on appeal, with the Kentucky Supreme Court even taking the unusual step of ruling on the case the day it was argued. However, while this victory overturned the initial redistricting plan, the House Democrats went back to the drawing board and enacted the most partisan plan they could that complied with the state's constitution. While that plan may not violate the constitution (which merely sets minimum standards), the core interest of remaining in power continued to control how the House Democrats drew the redistricting lines.

This type of misbehavior is to be expected by politicians, especially those clinging to power they have enjoyed for decades. And it is not unique to Kentucky, which is why numerous states have altered the way they redistrict their state legislatures. I stand with them. While I understand that politics can never be completely taken out of redistricting (perhaps it should not be completely taken out), I support an effort to redistrict Kentucky by respecting the integrity of counties and communities. Today, many of our counties and communities have been split for no reason other than to keep Democrats in power. And our people suffer because of it. Republicans are packed into as few districts as possible with as many citizens as the constitution allows while Democrats are in smaller districts with as few citizens as the constitution allows. This is done so Democrats can represent more districts and, thus, retain their majority. While this is surely unfair on a partisan basis, it also serves to protect incumbents of both parties and to encourage candidates to take more extreme positions. We can, and must, do better.

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