A reality check on Maine’s term limits

By Mike Lange
Staff Writer

    He’s back — for better or worse.
    John Martin, who has been in the Legislature on and off since Lyndon Johnson was president, can’t seem to get enough of it.
    After being upset by an upstart Republican two years ago, the Earl of Eagle Lake wants his old Maine House seat back. He claims he was born in it. All it needs is a brass plaque and designation with the Maine Historical Preservation Commission.

    While Martin is an extreme example of candidate recycling in Maine, he’s not the only one looking for a comeback this year. There are at least two dozen former lawmakers seeking Maine House or Senate seats.
    Some are former state representatives who want to move upstairs to the Senate. Others, like Roger Sherman of Hodgdon, are moving back to the first floor. Sherman has already served four consecutive terms in the House, followed by four more in the Senate. So he apparently likes his part-time job in either chamber.
    As you probably already know, Maine has legislative term limits — sort of. You can only run for four consecutive terms in either chamber. However, the law does not prevent you from flipping back and forth between the House and Senate every eight years, as long as you’re physically able to drive to Augusta and voters aren’t sick of you.
    Or, you can take a two-year break, convince a placeholder to run for your seat, and then attempt to reclaim it.
    Paul Davis of Sangerville served eight years in the State Senate — including two as minority leader — then three terms in the House. After a bitter primary fight this year, Davis wrestled the Republican nomination for Senate District 4 away from incumbent Doug Thomas, so he’s back on the ballot again.
    Roland “Danny” Martin of Sinclair served in the House, the Senate and also as commissioner of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife under Gov. John Baldacci. He’s now running for the Maine House again.
    As you may already know, term limits were passed by voters in 1993 shortly after one of John Martin’s aides was implicated in a ballot-tampering scandal. Only one third of the eligible voters cast ballots in the special election, but the measure carried easily.
    In addition to temporarily ousting Martin, supporters of the law also claimed it would help elect more young people (it didn’t) and women (it hasn’t). The demographics of the Legislature are roughly the same as they were 21 years ago.
    John Martin has publicly said that his first order of business, if elected, will be to introduce a bill to repeal term limits. For some reason, I’m not surprised.
    He may know legislative protocol and procedure better than any other public official in the state, but he’s taking a big chance by underestimating voter sentiment — again.
    Term limits were passed by the voters after a citizen-initiated referendum.
    If the law isn’t working, then it should be repealed in the same fashion.
    If voters in The County want to elect John Martin to the Legislature again, that’s their right. But they should also decide if they want to keep him — or anyone else — in office forever.
Mike Lange is a staff writer with the Piscataquis Observer. His opinions are his own and don’t necessarily reflect those of this newspaper.