Term limits will end local careers

Elected officials locally, like those throughout the state, will face the first real test of the term limits law this year.

Originally passed in 1994, the term limits law was struck down last year by a lower court in eastern Idaho, causing elected officials facing the prospect of losing office due to the measure to breath a sigh of relief. But at the end of 2001, the Idaho Supreme Court reversed the lower court and upheld the constitutional validity of the initiative.

The list of local elected officials who will be affected by the law over the next two years is extensive.

First to hit the term limits law wall will be school board chairman Jim Alexander, whose position is up for election this May. Highly respected for his service on the board, Alexander may opt for the option to run as a write-in candidate, which is allowed under the term limits law. In fact, over the next two years all of the members of the Mountain Home School District Board of Trustees except newly elected trustee Tom Rodney will fall under the term limits law when their terms expire.

Three county officials will be hitting the wall when the next elections come up this November -- Assessor Jim Hayden, Coroner Ed Belk, and Commissioner Larry Rose.

Sheriff Rick Layer hits the end of his term limits life two years from now.

City councilman Tom Rist also is out when his term expires next year, in 2003.

And in 2004, 70-80 percent of the Idaho Legislature will turn over due to the term limits law.

Locally, Robbie King-Barrutia is in her third term as a state senator, Sher Sellman is finishing her second term as a state representative, and Frances Field is in her ninth term as a state representative. Age and redistricting probably would have resulted in her retiring anyway, but both Sellman and King-Barrutia have been popular with the voters.

The term limits law went into effect Jan. 1, 1995. Due to a strange anomaly in the legislative terms of office -- the legislature actually is sworn in during December -- terms of legislators that began that year didn't count. Not until the 1997 terms began did the term limits law begin to apply for them.

The law applies to a person seeking the same office for more than two terms. After two terms, they must run as write-ins (their name will not appear on the ballot) for the same job. County commissioners and school board members fall under the provisions of the law if they have served six or more of the previous 11 years. Legislators, other county officials, statewide offices (such as governor and secretary of state), and mayors and city councils are prohibited from seeking the same office if they have served for eight or more years in the previous 15. Other government agencies, such as highway districts, are not affected by the law.

In addition to the initiative, the legislature added one more area that faces term limits. The appointive positions of city and county planning and zoning commissions also fall under the term limits law.

Locally, city and county officials weren't sure right away which current members of those commissions would be affected when their terms are up.

County Clerk Gail Best noted that the law will result in a high turnover of local officials over the next few years. "We better take care of our staff, so we have some institutional memory here," she said, referring to the awareness of how and why things were done certain ways in the past.