Mark Souder is a self-serving, oath-breaking schmuck. Sylvia Smith has a long article in the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette on the subject of Mark Souder’s pledge to serve no more than 6 terms as a Congressman. He made that pledge in 1994 and is now running for his 7th term. Ms. Smith diplomatically calls Souder’s position on term limits “versatile.”
In 1994, he ranked term limits as the second most important plank in his platform. Souder’s pretext for being forsworn on his pledge? Redistricting. After the decennial redistricting in which his district gained heavily Republican Kosciusko County and part of Elkhart County, Souder deemed his promises in 1994 “no longer operative.”
With that kind of logic, if Hayhurst succeeds in ousting Souder, I think Souder has a big future managing airline pensions.
The problem is not with Souder’s “new thinking” on term limits. There are very good reasons not to impose limits. The problem is with Souder’s decision to chuck a promise when it becomes inconvenient. Politicians who are serious about promoting “values” in this country have to know that value #1 is being true to one’s word. If you can’t keep a promise, you shouldn’t make it; and you certainly shouldn’t make it the second most important plank of your campaign. And the pretexts he comes up with to justify breaking his promise are so transparent as to be insulting. I’d almost respect him more if he just came out and said, “I just made up that term limit nonsense to get elected. Now that I’ve been elected, I want to stay in office as long as I possibly can.”
The article has the text of a September 1994 campaign commercial:
September 1994 radio commercial:
“Hi, I’m Mark Souder. This election isn’t about who’s the nicest or who smiles the best. It’s about our children’s future and about ideas. Ideas like the government not taking over health care. It’s about not sending troops into somewhere like Haiti unless our national security’s at stake. It’s about changing the way Congress works through term limits. Jill Long voted to support military intervention in Haiti. She sponsored the Clinton health plan and opposes term limits. Jill Long doesn’t vote with us in northeast Indiana anymore. I will. Now it’s your turn to vote.â€
I have mixed feelings about health care, but I’m certainly on board with a politician who opposes sending troops where our national security is not involved. In that regard, I’ll take a dozen Haitis over one Iraq.
Mark Souder is a complete hypocrite and should be voted out of office.
Mike Sylvester
Fort Wayne Libertarian
Does anyone know what Buyer’s stand on term limits was when he was running his first campaign? It seems to me like he was all for term limits as well, and how long has he been in office? Do these politicians not know that some of us have long memories and there is such a thing as tape or “Memorex” around? Good post on the Souder and term limits story.
Souder would be well-served to just be straight with the voters and say “I have changed my position.” I don’t think it matters politically; Souder has an iron grop on his district and has about as much chance of being defeated as I have of being elected here in the Ninth District. And I’m not running. (Not for Congress, anyway.)
I am opposed to term limits. It is a populist idea that is poor public policy. Yes, Ted Kennedy has been in the Senate for a long time, but as long as the voters of his state want to keep voting for him, they should have the right to do so. It is not about the rights of politicians – it is about the rights of the people to vote for who they wish.
I’m agnostic on term limits, but lean against them, I suppose. But, self-inflicted term limits ought to be binding, particularly if they are instrumental in the candidate being elected in the first place.
But, you’re right that Souder is probably safe, even though Dr. Hayhurst is a better candidate than the Dems usually run in that district.
Hayhurst has twice the cash on hand as Souder as of the last OpenSecrets report
http://www.xtra-rant.com/2006/07/27/2063/
I also wrote a diary on Kos about this race (as well as a bit on the three more talked about races) and crossposted it to xtra rant
http://www.xtra-rant.com/2006/08/11/2081/
Someone in the comments of the diary on Kos said that pollign puts Hayhurst down by only 5%, 38% – 43%, but there was no link…. anyone know of any polls (with links) on this race?
Hayhurst will need that extra cash since he will have to feed money into the Fort Wayne and especially the South Bend media markets. As to Souder’s pledge to quit after six terms, I would liken the Congressman to a sedimentary rock such as limestone or dolomite. Having spent 12 years precipitating into place he wishes the electorate would forget why it elected him.