The time has come for Kentuckians to take back their legislature.
Our state Constitution does not permit a citizens' referendum of any kind like other states have.Our legislators will never let it happen because they know we would ride them out on a proverbial rail. So we are left with only one option to get legislators to act responsibly for our state: demand term limits by voting them OUT.
That goes for every last one of them who has been there for more than eight consecutive years. That's two Senate terms and four House terms. If they can't make timely decisions and properly balance budgets in that length of time, they should not be there anymore.
Legislators misled the public when they said they wanted annual sessions to prevent costly special sessions. We cannot go back and take the annual sessions away because legislators would have to introduce the bill to revise the Constitution again. They who make the rules always win. They waste the first full month of every biennial budget session waiting to see who's going to run for office. How pathetic. And it comes directly out of your wallet at a rate of $60,000 a day.
Fifteen other states already have legislative term limits, and more are considering it. Twelve of those states limit their legislators to eight consecutive years. We need term limits in Kentucky for legislators, not just our elected executive branch officers. We limit any governor to eight years and expect that person to solve every problem within four years or else lose re-election. Why not limit legislators and hold them just as accountable?
Legislators don't want it because they have turned their part-time temporary jobs into a full-time gravy train with fantastic retirement benefits. They even gave themselves an extra 5 percent in each upcoming year in THEIR budget this year, while stripping the executive and judicial budgets down to the bone. They have taken over the entire Capitol Annex and created nice private offices with full-time support staff and secretaries while kicking full-time executive branch agencies to the curb. Again, they who make the rules always win.
That's why we can't get a budget passed. They know that if they go home, they can then come back later on the same public payroll, fool around some more, drag it out, and increase their yearly salaries as legislators. That's why they constantly create task forces and committees " they get paid for every meeting they themselves call. Legislators' part-time salaries are now the equivalent average of full-time regular state workers, thus greatly boosting their rich LRC retirement plans. Legislators even get holidays during their sessions that regular state workers don't get. And their staff get overtime while other state workers can't get a decent cost-of-living raise this year.
The budget boils down to a chosen few, self-important legislators meeting to play poker with the needs of Kentuckians. "You give me this, and I'll give you that." How many Kentuckians are totally unrepresented in these closed-door critical budget negotiations? It is all about self-protection and reelection. They have bought off citizens by building a local park or ball diamond while our statewide health-care and education systems go down the drain. What a wonderful way to distract people from the real issues.
Thegovernor is powerless to accomplish meaningfulreform to better the whole state if legislators are constantly trying to get reelected in their districts. Thus, legislators refuse courageous action to correct statewide education, Medicaid, prison and public pension issues. Jesus himself could not get cooperation from these legislators. All they are interested in is getting some local building project, a little blacktop, or program grant to get themselves reelected and stay on that gravy train. The rest of the state " and its citizens " be damned.
The Republicans, and unfortunately, some Democrats, in the Senate practically cower when Senate President David Williams walks by. They follow their marching orders, and good government be damned. Senators know Williams rules the Senate with a heavy hand, and they are ruled more by fear and partisanship than common sense and a desire to improve this state. They don't have enough, ahem, courage to elect a new president who knows that partisan cooperation and the art of compromise bring good government. Talk about a lack of true backbone!
The House is just as bad. There we are dealing with three or four "Williams-wanna-bes" who are jockeying for the speaker's position, fiddling while Kentucky burns.They run their daily general sessions as if they were auction blocks, complete with an auctioneer's call when introducing bills.The Househas become a joke.
The tit-for-tat attitudes of House representatives have surpassed exasperation, and are now causing serious damage to this state and its future. This is acutely apparent now that we have childish and personal feuds going on among variousmembers ofboth legislative bodies.
I am sick of it. Are you? Our only recourse is to vote them out. If we keep voting for the same people, we will continue to get the same results. If your senator and representative has been in office more than eight consecutive years, for the sake of Kentucky and this state's future, vote them out! Insist on term limits now! Any legislator who refuses to support such a constitutional amendment should be voted OUT immediately.
Yes, we will lose some good legislators in such a mass vote. I have the greatest respect for our own local representatives Derrick Graham and Carl Rollins. They have shown themselves to be truly honorable, dedicated and well-informed gentlemen.Unfortunately, voting all legislators out after eight years is the only recourse Kentuckians have to reclaim OUR legislature and make it work for us instead of becoming the personal playground of a few full-time politicians who think they are untouchable over time by gaining and holding on to leadership positions via tenure. It is an issue of fairness in the process of good government. We must demand term limits in the legislative branch just like the executive branch.
Susan Smith is a retired public employee with more than 30 years service.