Baker decries outside activists on term limits

Outside lobbyists working against legislative action to change term limits have angered Sen. Tom Baker.

During his regular legislative call Thursday morning at the McCook Chamber of Commerce, Sen. Tom Baker told Dixie Lorentz of McCook that he felt like kicking a truck pulling a trailer with a 6-foot wooden horse and a sign decrying the repeal of term limits.

"It had Arkansas license plates on it," Baker sputtered.

"There's all these outside people hell-bent on keeping our term limits in place. They are outside people coming into the state, trying to tell us how to run our Unicameral. They have no clue what we're about," he said.

Baker said he believes the Legislature will advance one of the three bills being considered for term limits. That bill calls for an extension of the term limits from two terms to three.

If the Legislature does pass the bill, it will give Nebraska voters the opportunity to vote on the amendment.

But, Baker said, the amendment may not pass because of resistance from the public.

"People haven't seen the downside of term limits yet," he said.

Sen. Baker assured Jan Gilbert of McCook that he would not support a bill that would reinstate voting rights to felons after they served their sentence.

Referring to a letter from Mothers Against Drunk Driving, Gilbert said she did not believe a person convicted of vehicular homicide should automatically have voting rights restored. She told the senator the current process -- felons seeking a pardon -- was adequate for restoring a convicted felon's rights.

"The current law is working. Why mess with it?" Baker agreed.

There are such a wide variety of felony convictions, Baker said, "I won't support a blanket change."

The McCook Chamber of Commerce Legislative Committee meets every Thursday at 8 a.m. during the regular legislative session. Members of the committee are invited to discuss their concerns and ask questions of Sen. Tom Baker. For more information on becoming a member, contact the McCook Chamber of Commerce at (308) 345-3200.