<< Back 6/12/02 Limiting the spread of state government SMN When reporters write stories about the legislature, more often than not they make reference to the “Raleigh lawmakers.” Truthfully, it hardly seems honest to attach the hometowns back in the districts to their names because they spend so little time there. Perhaps, though, all that will change soon as a bill to limit the sessions of our General Assembly is expected to be debated. The bill introduced last session — the longest session in history, stretching to the holiday season — would limit the long sessions of the General Assembly (every odd year) to 135 days and the short session (for budget fine-tuning every even year) to 60 days. A similar bill has passed the Senate five times in the past, and House Speaker Jim Black has promised to allow that chamber to vote on the measure. It’s easy to find support for the session limits, and perhaps no reason is as compelling as that of trying to retain a citizen legislature. As it is now, the N.C. legislature is becoming a haven for retirees, independently wealthy citizens and people with well-to-do spouses. Once upon a time laws were made by folks who knew what it was like to operate farms and run small businesses, people with children in school and kids in college. When lawmakers have no connection with the average working family, there is little hope they can serve them well in Raleigh. There is ample evidence that the legislature is now run by professional politicians, and this summer’s redistricting battle is a case in point. Redistricting has always been a bruising political slugfest, but the current morass is partly the result of lawmakers’ willingness to sacrifice common sense districts in order to tilt voter registration numbers for themselves or their party. Staying in office has assumed too high a priority. Another manifestation of the need to change the very nature of the legislature is the cost of running for office. Seats here in the mountains can cost more than $100,000 to win. That’s entirely too much, but professional politicians who spend months each year in Raleigh will undoubtedly forge close connections to lobbyists and their political action committees. They will learn how to put their hands on that kind of money. Then, they will never vote for campaign reform that will reduce the cost of running for office. Finally, the mere cost of extended sessions should raise many an eyebrow during these lean economic times. Every day the legislature is in session, the tab is $50,000. When a session that is supposed to end June 30 extends into November, the cost becomes astronomical. All around us session limits are in place. Thirty-nine states have decided that — at least at the state level — we should try to emulate the kind of government our forefathers envisioned. Session limits are a good start back down that road.