Citizens for Limited Taxation & Government
18 Tremont St., #608 * Boston, MA 02108
Phone: (617) 248-0022 * E-Mail: cltg@cltg.org
The Commonwealth Activist Network *
Visit our web-page at: http://cltg.org

-------------------------------------------------------------------

*** CLT&G Alert! ***
Friday, April 25, 1997

Greeting again, folks:

Now we all know there are no such things as “conspiracies” and that anyone who believes there is just has to be “paranoid”, right? So our good friend Dorothea Vitrac, executive director of LIMITS, must be an off-the-wall fringe-group looney . . . right?

We just learned that the state Supreme Judicial (Kangaroo) Court has turned down Dorothea's (LIMITS) and U.S. Term Limits' requests to intervene in defense of term limits in arguments before the court! Only Attorney General L. Scott Harshbarger will be there to defend the people's term limits law. After seeing how well he defended our payraise repeal initiative after approving it, this is not a very comforting thought.

Consider the following report as background, because I've also got a bit of “insider” news, but must keep it embargoed for the moment, at the reporter's request:

Watch the Boston Herald, perhaps as soon as tomorrow, for the *next* outrage to be visited upon us. You're going to *love* the coming attraction, I guarantee! You'll all be ready to “lock and load” when you hear it.

Chip Ford
Co-director

Well, some of us will just make sarcastic comments. But re: the following story:

I talked with Dorothea this morning, and she carefully researched this before putting out her press release, tracking the filing and the slow progress of the courthouse bill, even though it's non-controversial. We also reminisced about the 1992 term limits fight, when she and Chip were trying to do a constitutional amendment, with CLT as an ally; the SJC refused to order the legislature to take up the initiative petition, and later that day got its payraise.

And don't forget our experiences with the SJC on legislative rules reform and the recent payraise issue! As Chip Faulkner always says, just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get you.

Barbara Anderson
Co-director

* * *

Boston Globe
Friday, April 25, 1997

Term-limits proponent sees conspiracy
By Don Aucoin
Globe Staff

A conspiracy theory has floated into the long-running debate over term limits in Massachusetts.

Dorothea Vitrac, a leader of the state term-limits movement, yesterday accused the Legislature of holding a $685 million courthouse bond bill “hostage” to pressure the Supreme Judicial Court to rule against the new term-limits law in a pending court challenge.

Said Vitrac: “The ransom note to the SJC reads: `Kill the term-limits law by declaring it unconstitutional or you will never see your bond bill alive again!'” In an interview, Vitrac noted that the SJC has made a high priority of the bill, which would fund courthouse renovations.

“So the boys up here say, `We want something out of the SJC, so why don't we just dangle this and not take action till we see how they vote on term limits?'” said Vitrac.

The first response by Senate Ways and Means chairman Stanley C. Rosenberg (D-Amherst) to that charge was a burst of laughter. The second was: “Ah, there's a conspiracy everywhere you turn.”

The third, more serious answer from Rosenberg was that consideration of the bond bill, which is designed for the renovation and reconstruction of courthouses, has been delayed by the more pressing matter of the $18 billion state budget.

“We also have the transportation bond bill in committee,” Rosenberg said sardonically. “What is it that we're leveraging with that?”

House Ways and Means chairman Paul R. Haley, who sits on the courthouse bill conference committee with Rosenberg, termed Vitrac's charge “utter nonsense.”

“We are certainly not using any means to put pressure on them,” said Haley, a Weymouth Democrat, noting that the House-approved budget contains an extra $20 million for the operation of the state's courts.

SJC spokeswoman Joan Kenney said the Legislature's handling of the courthouse bond bill “won't have any effect whatsoever” on the justices' decision. The constitutionality of the term-limits law, approved by voters last year, has been challenged by the League of Women Voters and the American Civil Liberties Union.

The state's highest court is scheduled to hear oral arguments on the term-limits law on May 6, and will rule on its constitutionality within 130 days, according to Kenney. The measure, approved by voters three years ago, limits state legislators, statewide officeholders, and US representatives to eight years in office, and US senators to 12.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

If you are on the CLT&G / CPR98 e-mailing list and you want to be removed, please do the following:
Send a message to: cpr98-request@world.std.com
Type the word: < unsubscribe > in the body of your message with *NO* other information
Leave the subject field BLANK
(DO *NOT* try to send a message to: cpr98@world.std.com or your message will bounce and have no effect)

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *