John Dingell

John Dingell, has been in the House of Representatives since 1955 and is its longest serving member. He’s one of the more liberal representatives. But it’s his longevity that really makes him a stand out. 27 terms–longer than the intrepid Senator Robert Byrd.

Ideas for Real Term Limits

Personally, I don’t have a thing against career public service. What I have a thing against is cronyism, and 80 year olds determining what laws I as a 27 year old have to follow.
So my proposed rules for term limits are simple:

Mandatory retirement at whatever the Social Security Administration requires everyone else to retire at. [...]

John Murtha

John Murtha of Pennsylvania has had his share of controversy in his almost 18 terms as a representative. This former marine has almost been a good example of not being re-elected, but defeat was snatched from the jaws of victory and he was re-elected. It’s time to not re-elect this 38 year congressman.

Why They’ve Gotta Go

Fox News recently reported on the top 20 Senators with earmarks in the upcoming $410,000,000,000 budget package. We’ve featured a few on this site already and will eventually get to all of them. The original data came from the Taxpayers for Common Sense web site.

C. W. Bill Young

While most of the longest serving members of the House of Representatives are democrats, there are a few republicans. C.W. Bill Young is the longest serving republican in the house. He’s been there since 1971. Florida’s 10th district probably needs a change. Unfortunately, his wiki entry is correct in stating “…it is usually very difficult to unseat an Appropriations Committee member at an election.”

Evan Bayh

Even though Senator Evan Bayh is a relatively new member of the Senate, he still deserves your vote when he’s up for re-election in 2010. Senator Bayh has made a career of public service having served as the Indiana Secretary of State and Governor. Let’s see how well he could do in the private sector…after having lived off of the taxpayers for the past twenty plus years.

Charlie Rangel

Charlie Rangel makes up for his very small geographic district by serving there for a really really long time. This 19 term representative is currently being investigated by the House Ethics Committee for campaign, housing, tax issues among other allegations.

David Obey

Self proclaimed liberal David Obey has been in congress since 1969, giving him the 3rd longest tenure of any member. Just because he’s been there a long time he’s automatically a bad guy – it just means Wisconsin’s 7th district needs to change. It would be interesting to see what Mr. Obey could do in the private sector.

John Conyers

Michigan has the honor of having the two longest serving House members. John Conyers has bee there for 22 terms. Like his colleague, John Dingle, he’s one of the more liberal representatives, even more so.

Robert Byrd

Senator Robert Byrd has served in the Senate since 1959. That’s 50 uninterrupted years. Over 8 six year terms. He’s the longest serving senator. He’s been in the Senate longer than President Barak Obama has been alive! Clearly, he has the support of his constituents having never lost an election. Still, the principle holds true: A good public servant is one who doesn’t make a career out of it.

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