Bregman touts term limits/pay for New Mexico legislators

Democrat gubernatorial candidate Sam Bregman has called for term limits and salaries for New Mexico’s Legislature. For the record, we’d support both. Ideally, legislator pay would replace the outrageous legislative pension system thus compensating legislators for their actual work in real time, not their longevity and promises of generous checks for the rest of their lives.

While Bregman MAY be pandering, we’re not opposed to this kind of pandering. But, it is true that the Legislature would have to act to support term limits which is the toughest problem. That’s like letting the chickens vote for Colonel Sanders! While 16 states have legislative term limits a vast majority (perhaps all) were adopted by voters in the form of a ballot initiative, not legislators themselves. New Mexico has no such process in place realistically. So, this is an exceedingly unlikely thing to happen.

But, New Mexico’s legislative body is an abject failure (even relative to the failed MLG administration). It is time for dramatic measures to bring new blood and thinking into the body. Ideally voters would do this themselves in the elections, but they haven’t done a very good job over the years. It is worth having a debate about term limits and broader legislative reforms.