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Politics & Government

Berkeley Man Pushing for Congressional Term Limits

William Gumper seeks freeholders' backing for caps on federal legislators' service

If the U.S. president’s service is limited, there should be similar limits on the time members of Congress can serve, according to a Berkeley Township retiree.

William Gumper, a retired New York City policeman who lives in Holiday City at Berkeley, is seeking the backing of Ocean County’s freeholders for his bid to get Congress to enact term limits.

“Congress was not created to be a lifetime occupation for anyone,’’ Gumper told the county officials.

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He assured them that he was not advocating that their terms, or those of state lawmakers, be likewise limited. Freeholder John C. Bartlett Jr. is the longest serving freeholder in the state, now in his 32nd year as a county official.

Gumper said it is “almost impossible,’’ to get sitting members of Congress to vote themselves out of their seats. So he is advocating that the limits apply only to members elected two years after the law becomes effective.

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Sitting members would be allowed to serve until they die, retire  or are voted out of office. He also would make provisions for members who seeking higher federal office, allowing them to keep their seats in the House or Senate if they lose those bids.

By limiting the time future members can serve, he said “as time passes new people with new energy, new ideas and new intellects will take their places in a new congressional makeup.’’

Gumper handed his proposal to Betty Vasil, the freeholders’ clerk, urging the county officials to study it and support it if they thought it was a good idea.

“It will take time,’’ to make the change, Gumper said.

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