DFL to Gutknecht: Time to retire

Greg Gordon, Star Tribune Washington Bureau Correspondent
February 17, 2005

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- In campaigning for his House seat in 1994, Minnesota Rep. Gil Gutknecht trumpeted his support for term limits in Congress and promised to serve no more than 12 years.

Now, at the start of his sixth two-year term, DFL leaders are calling on Gutknecht to honor his pledge and announce plans to retire. The controversy recalls the criticism Republicans directed at the late Sen. Paul Wellstone, when he repudiated a pledge to serve only 12 years in the Senate.

Gutknecht "still supports the idea of term limits, but you can't unilaterally enact them or it negatively impacts the district," his spokesman, Bryan Anderson, said Wednesday. If Gutknecht retired, he said, the southern Minnesota district would lose the political clout that comes with seniority -- including his chairmanship of an agriculture subcommittee.

"The reality is that in a time when agricultural districts are getting fewer in number, it's important that they have a strong voice," Anderson said.

more: http://www.startribune.com/stories/587/5245363.html

runs against his seat. The term limit promise will be a nice consideration.

...is that Wellstone originally said he'd only spend 12 years in the Senate and that was working against him as he ran for his third term.

Plane crash aside, I WANTED him to run again so it was unfortunate that he'd ever said he wouldn't.

As Bartlett said on The West Wing, "we've already got term limits ... they're called elections."