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September 28, 1994 - In a daytime ceremony on the steps of the United States Capitol, Charlie Bass eagerly signed Newt Gingrich's Contract With America. The Contract endorsed term limits in order "to replace career politicians with citizen legislators."
October 18, 1994 - Charlie Bass attended a U.S. Term Limits rally at the Legislative Office Building in Concord. There he signed a pledge backing a constitutional amendment to limit congressional service to three two-year terms in the House and to two six-year terms in the Senate. . . . According to the Union Leader: "Bass said that in 1980 he didn't support term limits for Congress, but since then congressmen have gotten out of touch with the American people by cloistering themselves in positions of power." (Manchester Union Leader, 10/19/94)
November 8, 1994 - After a brutal campaign of lies and venom, Charlie Bass defeats Congressman Dick Swett in a Republican landslide that sweeps Democrats from power in Congress.
March 29, 1995 - Charlie Bass casts his first ballot for term limits on the floor of the House. He declared: "I promised the people of New Hampshire that I would be a strong supporter of term limits and I voted for every Republican proposal." Bass co-sponsored the Inglis-Dornan bill, which would have imposed a six-year restriction on House members. "It is important to keep my word with the people of New Hampshire," he crowed. "Our voices will be heard." (Bass press release, 3/29/95)
March 30, 1995 - The next day, Charlie used a term limits argument to justify his position on pension reform. He said on the House floor: "I appreciate this opportunity to demonstrate, in effect, what term limits is all about, by working example. We have here a group of freshmen, some of us have experience working in retirement systems in our home states, others of us have experience in other areas relating to pension systems either in our business or elsewhere. . . . We come to Washington with a certain set of principles and understandings about finances and how financial retirement systems are supposed to work." (Congressional Record, 3/30/95)
February 12, 1997 - Bass supports term limits again, voting for 10 of the 11 plans defeated by the House. Nevertheless, three months after his first re-election bid, Charlie was less enthused by the prospect of "replacing career politicians with citizen legislators." Bass told John DiStaso of the Union Leader that the issue did not have as much "urgency" in the 105th Congress as it did in the 104th, explaining: "I don't think there was any expectation that it was going to pass. . . . I got very little mail on this issue this time." (Manchester Union Leader, 2/15/97)
1996 to 2007 - Charlie Bass does not make a single speech or reference to term limits in the House of Representatives. (Congressional Record)
1997 to 2007 - Charlie Bass neither introduces nor co-sponsors a single piece of term limits legislation. He did, however, endorse bills that would (a) award a Congressional Gold Medal to C-Span's Brian Lamb, (b) "efficiently allocate telephone numbers," and (c) result in the issuance of several commemorative postage stamps. (Congressional Record)
October 24, 2001 - Bass' spokeswoman, Sally Tibbetts, tells the Union Leader that while Charlie "continues to support term limits," he "does not support voluntarily, unilaterally limiting terms himself, however, because he believes it puts the constituents of the 2nd District at a disadvantage." In contrast to the 1994 Charlie Bass, she makes no mention of congressmen who become out of touch by "cloistering themselves in positions of power." (Manchester Union Leader, 10/24/01)
June 12, 2006 -- Charlie Bass files to run for his seventh two-year term in the House. In his press release, he does not mention his previous support for "replacing career politicians with citizen legislators" after twelve years in office. (Associated Press, 6/12/06)
November 7, 2006 -- Paul Hodes and the voters of New Hampshire's 2nd Congressional District impose their OWN term limit on Charlie Bass, ending a dozen years of hypocritical actions and bad votes.
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