
WSJ’s Fund: Term Limits v. Perk Limits
From today’s Wall Street Journal Political Diary…
California’s legislature is getting ready to water down the state’s 16-year-old term limit law by allowing members to serve up to 14 years in either house and by "grandfathering" in the existing Assembly and Senate leadership, allowing members, in effect, to restart the clock on their service.
Term-limit advocates can’t do anything to block this incumbent-protection scheme from being placed before voters on February’s primary ballot. But they believe they can defeat the proposal partly by promoting a countermeasure to stir up old populist resentment of legislative perks. The measure would strip away a legislator’s cherished tax-free $153-a-day allowances for lodging and meal expenses incurred while the legislature is in session. The per diems add up to more… Read More