Reps follow party lines

Local legislators used words like philosophy, stability and good government to describe why they favored or opposed a Thursday Massachusetts House vote to scrap an eight-year term limit for the House Speaker.The 109-45 vote Thursday to eliminate term limits represented a switch for current Speaker Robert A. DeLeo, who introduced an eight-year term limit for the speakership in 2009. State Rep. RoseLee Vincent, who co-represents Revere in the House with fellow Democrat DeLeo, called abolishing term limits “important for the integrity of the House.”Vincent, who also represents a sliver of Saugus, said the House needs stable leadership at a time when its companion legislative branch – the state Senate – has a new president and the state has a new governor.?Things change in six years: It is important we don?t have a lame-duck speaker. There is a lot we need to get done,” Vincent said.But Peabody Republican Leah Cole – who, like Vincent, is a relatively new House member – thinks the House can benefit by seeing “a change in leadership every few years.”?When term limits were implemented, they were implemented for a good reason: It?s good government to have limits on positions of power,” Cole said.Thursday?s vote allows DeLeo, a Winthrop resident, to serve beyond 2017, if he chooses.In remarks reported by the State House News Service on Thursday, DeLeo said he has not set a specific time for serving as speaker.A House member for less than a month, state Rep. Brendan Crighton said he consistently opposed term limits and said it was important for House members to set “individuals aside” and focus on philosophy in weighing the advantages of doing away with term limits.?We have elections to set term limits. I haven?t been supportive of them at any level of government,” Crighton said.Veteran East Lynn state Rep. Robert Fennell said DeLeo proposed speakership term limits in 2009 to bring “stability into the House” during a time of uncertainty following a change in House leadership. Fennell said term limits “was in the best interest of the House at that time,” but he said DeLeo has effectively argued that the years since 2009 have underscored the need for House members to hold a strong position on issues also being shaped by Senate debates and state administrators.?Term limits would weaken the position of any speaker,” Fennell said.Vincent won an April 2014 special election to succeed Kathi-Anne Reinstein in the House. As a legislative aide, Vincent worked for Reinstein and her father, the late William Reinstein, a former legislator and Revere mayor. She said DeLeo?s tenure as speaker has impressed her.?He has been fantastic – in the long term, I think he has done a credible job,” she said.