Fox guards henhouse

One hundred state representatives and 35 state senators doubled their term limits in office by placing a 2014 constitutional amendment titled, basically, “Ethics in Government” on the ballot. In today’s world, who wouldn’t vote for ethics in government? Hidden in the wording of the amendment was a doubling of the length of time a representative or senator could serve in office.

One hundred twenty thousand Arkansas voters signed a petition in 2018 to place on the ballot an amendment to restore term limits to six years for a state representative and eight years for a state senator, with no more than a total of 10 years of service, but we were denied a place on the ballot by a vote of 4 to 3 by the Arkansas Supreme Court for a very obscure reason. The petitions were verified as legal Arkansas voters by the Arkansas secretary of state’s office.

I was lectured Thursday when trying to give testimony to the Senate Committee on State Agencies and Governmental Affairs. I was speaking against the proposed Senate Joint Resolution 15 (SJR15). Some of the senators were trying to educate me that we live in a republic, and not a democracy, in Arkansas. Please Google “Arkansas SJR15” and read for yourself the last few paragraphs of the proposed resolution that removes the authority of a petition by the people to change term limits and says only the General Assembly (100 representatives and 35 senators) can change term limits in the future.

In my opinion, every future candidate should be asked if he supports a limited term for the office that he is running for and let the voters decide if they agree with him.

MAC FAULKNER

Little Rock