By WILLIAM WEISENBERG

Let me disclose right from the start that I voted against term limits in 1992 and remain unalterably opposed to them.

Having worked in and with the Ohio General Assembly for 32 years, I have seen legislators come and go, and except for a few long-timers (Vern Riffe, Stanley Aronoff, Dick Finan, and Ted Gray), turnover has been regular.

The notion that term limits would solve the problem of one-person rule in the legislature and address some notorious behavior of the late 1980s and early 1990s has given way to a period of instability, absence of civility and collegiality, an almost complete loss of institutional memory, and a thirst for fund-raising and job-seeking that is unprecedented.

The men and women who come to the General Assembly come, for the most part, with good intentions and a desire to serve the best interests of our citizens. Some come with a particular agenda, often with a single issue in mind, but soon find out this is not the road to success.

They do not come expecting to enjoy a gradual learning curve, but recognize the need for a crash course in state government and resume building. Complex problems demand carefully constructed solutions developed over time, but term limits restrict that luxury for today’s legislators.

To say the least, term limits have created an era of instability in the legislature with leadership changing as rapidly as the sports polls.

In fact, leadership in Ohio might be described as a lame-duck game as both Speaker Larry Householder (R., Glenford) and Senate President Doug White (R., Manchester) are term-limited and will exit the legislature in December, 2004. Even before Senator White took over as president last January, the jockeying began as to who would succeed him.

The intensity is so great that Steve Stivers (R., Columbus), the successor to state Sen. Priscilla Mead (R., Upper Arlington), was selected because he was neutral on who a successor might be, having not announced who he might support in 2005, and thus avoiding a veto by an aspiring candidate.

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CLEVELAND---Earlier yesterday, a jury deliberated for less than three hours before finding William Scott, 20, guilty of aggravated murder, aggravated robbery and the attempted murder of Nikon Bell, in a street shooting in Cleveland during the predawn hours of Dec. 26.

On Christmas night 2002, former Bedford High School basketball star Doug Rias, 20, a Youngstown State University student, was nightclub-hopping with friends from high school, a group called the "Bedford Boys." At Peabody's, a couple of Scott's friends thought they spotted his stolen leather coat on one of the Bedford Boys and called Scott on his cell phone.

After Rias and his friends left in three cars, Scott and his friends followed them at a distance. When Rias' car became separated from the other two cars at a traffic light, Scott got out of his car and walked up to Rias's Camry, both of Scott's friends testified during the nine- day trial.

Scott said, "If I can't get my coat, I'll get Doug's coat," according to co- defendants Ryan Hood, 21, the driver, and Philip Carter, 17. Rias was wearing a $300 Rocawear-brand leather jacket.

Hood and Carter testified that Scott sprayed the Camry with six shots, but failed to get his hands on Rias' jacket.

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Ohio Highway Patrol Superintendant Paul McClellan opposes HB12, claiming that "there is no statistical or anecdotal evidence which supports that concealment and transportation of a weapon in a motor vehicle is effective or safe as a defensive or deterrent measure."

But Chuck Canterbury, president of the National F.O.P., knows better.

While speaking at the F.O.P.'s 56th Biennial National Conference last week, Canterbury called for passage of a national concealed carry bill, "which would allow the 750,000 or so police officers outside their jurisdictions to carry guns."

"There are a number of cases", said Canterbury, "of police officers, outside of their jurisdictions, saving citizens' lives."

Isn't it interesting that when it comes to securing self-defense eights for it's members, the F.O.P. is very suddenly very interested in quoting real-life examples of lives being saved by a person with a concealed firearm?

This isn't the first time an F.O.P. spokesperson has unwittingly revealed the falacy in ongoing opposition to concealed carry reform by the Ohio State Highway Patrol.

In February, Michael Taylor, secretary of the Ohio FOP, said local police officers have different concerns than Highway Patrol troopers.

"Their job is traffic stops,'' he said. "The majority of our work is responding to robberies and investigating crimes. Traffic is not a primary function.''

Click here to review the types of investigations the Ohio State Highway Patrol, which Bob Taft continues to hide behind, is involved with.

Click here to read the full story Providence R.I.'s 10News.