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Opinion
Apr. 20, 2008
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

LETTERS: Aging incumbents hate term limits, but so do lobbyists

To the editor:

In response to Erin Neff's April 13 column, "Lawmakers just hate term limits": Ms. Neff may want to talk to a few members of the Legislature who are not entrenched committee chairmen. I realize that such voices do not have as much celebrity, but what they have to say is as valid, if not more valid, than someone desperately trying to hang onto power in spite of the will of the people.

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    • Regarding lobbyists, Ms. Neff's opinion of that matter is actually the polar opposite of the reality. Lobbyists do not want term limits to come into play any more than the unholy trinity of state Senate Majority Leader Bill Raggio, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and state Senate Minority Leader Dina Titus. Some of these lobbyists have spent years and tens of thousands of dollars cultivating relationships. The last thing they want to do is to have to start over, especially with an unknown quantity.

    Look at this from behind their eyes. The newly elected candidate may be, heaven forbid, actually serious about representing his or her district. He may take that oath of office at its word. This is a potential nightmare in the making.

    Some hyperbole there, of course, but it makes my point. The longer a politician is in office, the greater chance there is of him having been paid for, lock, stock and barrel. We do have some who manage to be completely honest all the way through their terms of office, but in today's world, that is a rarity.

    The people have spoken as to what they want done by initiative. Our constitution, both state and federal, allow this. You want precedent? Look at the Founding Fathers and how they set up the original Congress. They knew longevity created corruption.

    Is it not interesting that the ones fighting the will of the people on term limits are also the ones who passed the bill narrowing the state's initiative process?

    Bob Beers

    HENDERSON

    THE WRITER, A REPUBLICAN, REPRESENTS ASSEMBLY DISTRICT 21.

    Balanced reporting

    To the editor:

    Could it be that we're finally getting some balance in reporting about the environment? Witness the column by Michael Berliner, published in Friday's Review-Journal, outlining the hidden agenda of some radical environmentalists. By coincidence, The Wall Street Journal on Friday had an article reviewing some of the statistical problems in measuring the environmental health of the planet.

    Readers need to appreciate these complexities before they endorse simplistic solutions offered by environmental lobbyists that can have catastrophic, unintended consequences for all of us.

    Don Fisk

    HENDERSON

    Stopping the takeover

    To the editor:

    In response to your Tuesday editorial, "Against human prosperity," and Tuesday's Page 9A article, "Environmentalists try to derail plans for border fence."

    Has it occurred to anyone that all any entity, large or small, would have to do to bring America to its knees would be to fund the Sierra Club and others of its ilk?

    It has been more than 50 years since any substantial undertakings in the area of infrastructure have been made. During that time, the population of America has grown by almost 150 million people. Have you noticed that environmental organizations will file lawsuits to stop any effort to fill this need without ever offering any suggestions as to what we do about this problem?

    For instance, when we did not have it, they suggested wind power. Then, when wind power was developed at great expense, they sued to stop it because it supposedly killed birds. Any bird that could not miss one of those slow-moving blades needs to turn in its pilot's license, but that did not make a difference. It was a reason to file suit and slow down development.

    I believe that if there are any good people out there in a position to do something about this takeover, they should begin at once -- hopefully peacefully, and hopefully before the American way of life resembles that of a Third World country.

    Gerald Ernst

    LAS VEGAS



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    Dawn wrote on April 20, 2008 05:23 PM: Thank you Bob Beers. We need more like you.


    tim wrote on April 20, 2008 10:32 AM: god bless bob beers!tom you dont think the people are smart enough to see through that?come on,those entities are already trying to influence the outcome, long after the people have spoken.


    Tom wrote on April 20, 2008 10:17 AM: Mr. Beers, what if the entities that wish to stay in control influence who runs and receives publicity for those elected offices?


    Don Evans wrote on April 20, 2008 10:15 AM: "Vegas Vic"

    Environmental issues notwithstanding, I ask again; what do you propose we do about the relatively recent additions of China and India to finite (fossil) fuel consumption? Their consumption, with populations both exceeding 1 billion citizens each, will significantly alter the GLOBAL supply/demand curves of finite fuels.

    In short, get ready to pay absolutely crazy sums for just about every fossil fuel that exists. Why do you think both countries you mention are hastily attempting to develop non-finite alternatives?

    Those countries that can generate increasing amounts of power from fixed cost facilities (non-finite fuels), rather than methods that depend on fuels that go up with demand (fossil fuels), will dominate the world economies in the coming generations. This is basic economics; dollars and cents.

    In short, the more an economy is based upon fixed cost energy generation (non-finite fuels), the more efficient it becomes. Increasing demand for non-finite power generation, moreover, would promote increased R&D from increasing numbers of market participants; creating more efficient and inexpensive systems as time goes on. Again, this is basic economics. Non-finite fuels also offer non-interruptible energy independence.

    Currently, these economic benefits are limited, due to our recalcitrant adherence to an energy policy that curiously promotes nothing more than fossil fuel dependence. Now, why do you think this is$$$?


    Mrs.C wrote on April 20, 2008 09:09 AM: Corporation's in this city have most of our assemblymen in there pocket's our jegislature is a complete joke,they do not work for the people they are on the corporate payrolls.
    I am disgusted with the political climate in this state


    DennisD wrote on April 20, 2008 07:56 AM: Thank you Bob for some sanity. Well said Vegas Vic.


    Vegas Vic wrote on April 20, 2008 06:52 AM: Concerning the "takeover" that Mr. Ernst notes, it seems that no matter what is done to "appease" the eco-terrorists, they want nothing more than for everyone in the United States to end up living in a cave...as long as they don't dispose a bear or some other wild creature from living in said cave. The big thing now is reduction of the carbon dioxide output of our electric generating plants. What I'd like to know is when these same eco-terrorists are going to make the pilmigrage to China and India and protest THEIR carbon dioxide output? No matter how much the United States reduces its output, China alone will make up for that level and even quadruple it. Instead of standing in the way of electric generation in this country, the eco-terrorists need to get off their high horses and find something to do that does NOT make it impossible for the United States to meet the need for electricity in this country. Wind, solar and geothermal are all just emerging technologies and none of them can meet the needs of any large communities at this time. It will take 10 or more years for these technologies to even catch up to the generation capabilities of 50 years ago...a time when there were 150 million LESS people in the United States.


    Vegas Vic wrote on April 20, 2008 06:52 AM: Representative Beers makes extremely good points in his letter. The entrenched politicos who have been "career politicians" are the first to decry any mention, at all, of term limits. They'll do anything to keep We the People from kicking their butts away from the public trough that elected offices have become. We don't need Strom Thurmonds or Ted Kennedys sitting in Congress for decades engaging in any obstructionist actions. 6 years is MORE than enough for any politician to make his mark...if he's ever going to even attempt to do so.


    Mike L. wrote on April 20, 2008 06:35 AM: We need more Bob Beers and less environmentalists.