Ronald Lauder, one of New York's leading term limits advocates, has an op-ed in The New York Times today explaining why New York should, just this once, suspend term limits so Michael Bloomberg can hang out a little while longer. Being one of 12 political bloggers not obsessed with New York politics, I have no opinion on that. But this bit of rhetoric is silly, and you hear it frequently from term limits advocates. "If you want a good example of what can happen when politicians overstay their usefulness," writes Lauder, "look at Washington and the gridlock that has been a defining feature in our federal government over the last decade." The sentence is fine, accept for its misunderstanding of both "usefulness" and gridlock." Bob Corker and Sarah Palin are among the newer politicians on the scene. There's no obvious evidence that they're particularly effective by virtue of being relative novices. On the other hand, look at our more effective legislators, like Kennedy, and you'll notice a certain commonality of tenure. Out in California we have sharp term limits. The result? A legislature with no expertise, where a good quarter of the representatives spend the first year trying to figure out where the parliamentarian keeps the bathroom key. It's a damn tough thing to pass a budget when no one has passed more than a handful of them. It's even harder when there aren't deep working relationships between various legislators, and new coalitions need to arise on an almost yearly basis.
