End term limit movement, not legislative terms in Illinois

Illinois has big problems but lack of legislative term limits is not one of them. Bruce Rauner promoted enacting term limits during his 2014 gubernatorial bid to demonize the Democratically controlled legislature. Why? They serve as a firewall between 13 million Illinoisans and Rauner's drive to privatize Lincoln's Land for his billionaire buddies. Billionaire Bruce has ponied up $46 million this year to degrade Democratic legislative strength. Billionaire buddies Richard Uihlein and Ken Griffin have chipped in millions more from the $33.3 million they've given conservative candidates nationwide. With oligarchs like Rauner, Uihlein and Griffin pulling the purse strings, we may as well change our state name to Illinoisistan.

But aren't term limits good for democracy and governance? A glance at the 15 states with term limits tells a cautionary tale. Four of those states are among the 18 who have heartlessly denied expansion of Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. Six restrict voting rights to suppress minority voting. And a whopping 13 restrict a women's right to choose. So much for good governance with term limits.

Gov. Rauner may be touting term limits for legislators but certainly not for lobbyists. A pernicious side effect of term limits is it further empowers long term lobbyists to mentor the legislative 'newbies' unfamiliar with the ways of power and influence.

We've had a good system of term limits for 240 years now. It's called 'elections' and in 2018 it will set Governor Rauner's term limit at ONE.