#25 IS IT ALREADY 'CONGRESS FOR LIFE' ?

www.tenurecorrupts.com

One of our Signups lamented the fact that there is no readily available list of all the old bulls (or old bums) in the Congress, which could be used to highlight how bad the situation is.

I checked, and found some info on the Senate, which allowed me to make my own list, but I could not find such info on the House. So I just made some intelligent guesses for Representatives.

In any case, to make the same list for the House would take an awful lot of time, so the Senate list will have to do for now, with just an estimate for the House. Here goes:
(PLEASE EXCUSE THE LOUSY FORMATTING. BLOGGER.COM DOES NOT LIKE DATA COLUMNS)

SENATE OLD BULLS, STATE, YEARS AS OF 2006

BYRD WV 48
INOUYE HI 48
KENNEDY MA 44
STEVENS AK 40

BIDEN DE 36
DOMENICI NM 36
LEAHY VT 36

DODD CT 30
LUGAR IN 30
GRASSLEY IA 30
SARBANES MD 30
LEVIN MI 30

COCHRAN MS 30
BAUCUS MT 30
SPECTOR PA 30
HATCH UT 30
WARNER VA 30

SHELBY AL 24
MCCAIN AZ 24
HARKIN IA 24
MCCONNELL KY 24
MIKULSKI MD 24

KERRY MA 24
BOND MO 24
BINGAMAN NM 24
ROCKEFELLER WV 24

BOXER CA 18
LEIBERMAN CT 18
CRAIG ID 18
LOTT MS 18
BURNS MT 18

GREGG NH 18
DORGAN ND 18
BENNETT UT 18
CONRAD ND 18

JEFFORDS VT 18
MURRAY WA 18
KOHL WI 18
FEINGOLD WI 18

IN SUMMARY: 39% of Senators have been in office for three terms, or 18 years or more, as of 2006.
17% have been there five terms, or 30 years or more.

As for the House of Representatives, in 1996, 125 of the 435 seats (29%), had been held for 7 terms (14 yrs) or more. Based on the 98% reelection rate of incumbents in the last 10yrs, I would guess that that the ratio has risen to above 45% today.

In other words, it appears that in a few more years,
election to Congress will be as good as getting elected for life!

Putting it another way, there will be no point in having Congressional elections unless one of them dies or goes to jail.

IN JUST A FEW MORE YEARS, IT WILL BE CONGRESS FOR LIFE!
THIS IS NOT WHAT THE FOUNDERS INTENDED! AND IT IS
CERTAINLY NOT WHAT AMERICANS ARE WILLING TO ACCEPT!

JOIN THE MANY TERM LIMITS ORGANIZATIONS BELOW TO HELP PUT
PRESSURE ON CONGRESS TO PASS LEGISLATION FOR A
CONGRESSIONAL TERM LIMITS AMENDMENT TO THE CONSTITUTION!


US Term Limits http://www.ustermlimits.org
Americans for Limited Govt http://getliberty.org/lg/default.aspx
Citizens for Term Limits http://termlimits.com
TenureCorrupts.Com
TermLimitCongressNow.Com
CongressTermLimits.Com

Let's get the ball rolling!

Nelson Lee Walker
www.tenurecorrupts.com