Term limit hypocrisy
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To the editor:
As the 2022 midterm elections get closer, the political ads ramp up. And, we are all tired of them but one in particular has caught my eye due to the obvious hypocrisy of the group and their ad.
I am referring to the Washington based advocacy group, U.S. Term Limits, working to pass limits on the length of service by state and federal elected officials.
Now don’t get me wrong, I have long favored strict term limits for elected officials. This would require the passage of an amendment to the constitution. No small feat because to amend the constitution requires that the proposal be passed by a 2/3 vote in both Houses of Congress and ratified by 3/4 of the state legislatures.
But, singling out Cindy Axne for not signing the pledge ignores, pardon the expression, the elephant in the room, namely Chuck Grassley.
He was first elected to the Iowa House of Representatives in 1958, taking office in 1959–six years before Cindy Axne was born. In 1974, Grassley was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, taking office in 1975 and then elected to the Senate in 1980, taking office in 1981.
Cindy Axne has been castigated as a “career” politician and the ad makes it clear that is bad. So, what constitutes a “career” politician?
At age 25 when Grassley was first elected to the Iowa House, there were just 49 states. Grassley has been in Washington for 48 years. In the real world if you have been in a job for 48 years, it’s a career.
If re-elected, Grassley will be eighth longest serving Senator in history. His campaign ads ignore the no term limits pledge and tout his experience, carefully avoiding the “career” politician label. Axne is not the only Iowan serving in Congress who has not signed the U.S. Term Limits pledge. Joni Ernst, Ashley Hinson and Marianette Miller-Meeks are nonsigners as well.
Only Randy Feenstra has signed this pledge.
Mary Kathyrn
Gepner
Benton