Congressman Jeff Flake breaks pledge to serve only three terms

Arizona LDS Congressman Jeff Flake pledged to voters that he would only to serve three terms in Congress and then call it quits. He was only kidding.

From The Arizona Republic, November 28, 2004, B8:

Eric Winter, a spokesman for U.S. Term Limits, an Illinois-based national lobbying group, says Flake's decision this month to break his pledge to serve just three terms and run again for his House seat in 2006 will come back to haunt him.

Winter said members of Congress who break such pledges are typically able to hang on to their seats. But they often find it more difficult when they set their minds to winning some other elected office."

He's broken faith with voters, and that's a problem he'll have hanging over him always," Winter said of Flake, 41. Flake joins more than a dozen other House members, five of them Democrats, who have reneged on term-limit pledges of varying lengths.

In announcing his decision, Flake said his term-limit pledge was "a mistake." He also said he knows breaking his word will be a legitimate issue in future campaigns, that "it ought to be," and that he expects to take his lumps. But Flake said he's comfortable "leaving it to the voters."

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/1128AZinDC28.html

Don't worry Jeff, the voters in your district never expected you to keep your word and they really don't care. I'm sure you'll be in office as long as you want to be.