Lonnie Glessner

Currently, every two years dozens of new Congresspeople go to D.C. to serve their people and to "shake up" D.C. But, instead of getting to use a Kitchen Aid Blender to shake up things, all they get to use is a small plastic spork. Thus, nothing changes in D.C.

Why does this happen? To shake up things in D.C. like a blender requires you to be a leading committee member or leader on one of several powerful committees. But, to become one of these people you must "put in your time" by serving for many years in Congress. Thus, by the time you have "done your time", you have been corrupted by the very system you set out to shake up. And no real reform takes place in D.C.

Thus, we are stuck with career politicians who become too powerful, too conceited, and too greedy to effectively serve.

Now imagine with me if in the House you could only serve 3 terms, this means every 2 years the House is full of "new blood". By your second term you are a key committee person on one or more committees where you can make a difference. During your third term you chair the committee and work gets done. You only have 6 years max to make a difference and you are not so worried about being re-elected over and over again. Thus, the work of Americans gets done and gets done right. Then, you limit Senators to 2 terms max and accomplish the same things there.

I believe term limits would encourage new people to get involved in the legislature; but also greatly limit the abuses that are currently happening as their time and power is limited.

So, how do we as voters accomplish this? First, is vote all the long-term bums out of Congress. Second, is a U.S. Constitutional Amendment to place term limits on people serving in Congress.

My final solution to keep this Mortgage Mess from ever happening again is "to draw and quarter all politicians in D.C." Just kidding!

But seriously, there are things that we as the employers of these politicians should do. First, we need to create term limits for anyone serving in Washington D.C. like we have here in Colorado. In Colorado a Senator or Representative at the state level can only serve a maximum of 8 years in either House of the Colorado legislature.

In 1994 we as Colorado voters approved a similar rule as an Amendment to our state constitution that said a U.S. Senator can only serve 12 years or 2 terms and a U.S. Representative can only serve for 6 years or 3 terms.

Unfortunately, this Amendment was declared unconstitutional in 1995 by the U.S. Supreme Court by a 5-4 vote in U.S. Term Limits, Inc. vs. Thornton. The Supreme Court in this ruling went against the voters of Arkansas who had enacted a similar Constitutional Amendment in 1992 that established term limits for Congresspeople from their state.

Why did the Supreme Court vote this way in this divided case? Because our Constitution did not address the issue of term limits. All our Constitution addresses is the age of the person, length of citizenship in the country, and that they reside in the state they represent. Those are the only rules to be a Senator or Congressperson.

Thus, 5 Justices believed that we can't add term limits to the Constitution. The 4 dissenting Justices believed that since the Constitution does not address term limits, that term limits could be addressed later.

It's interesting to note that the 5 supporting Justices were all of the more liberal Justices who normally argue for the idea that the Constitution is a living breathing document. Whereas, the 4 dissenting Justices who are more conservative, and are more "constructionists" or "originalists" of the Constitution voted against the majority. It was an ironic decision.

Thus, could we as a nation amend the U.S. Constitution to add term limits? From a non-legal person, I would think we could; but I am not sure.

Next, I will address why we would want to write a new Constitutional Amendment with term limits.

I know for many real estate agents that your business may be down 30%, 40%, 50% or even more this year and it HURTS! In the words of President Clinton, "I feel your pain". This is why for the last 14 months I have been offering my Referral Partners, both real estate agents and financial advisors, the opportunity to help you grow your business.

How do I do this? I offer monthly Business Succcess Lunches in which I bring in a great speaker on different topics such as marketing, branding, networking, mindset, etc.

This month on November 6th, which is Thursday, my speaker will be Debbie Scott from Achievement Dynamics who will be advising us on "How to sell in a down economy." This powerful presentation normally costs $150; but it is FREE through me and will be held at SMDRA from 11:30 to 1:00. To learn more please email or call me.

Plus, I will even provide lunch for you if you RSVP by the 5th.

Today's post is my 4^th suggestion/solution for keeping the Mortgage Mess from ever happening again and the Word for today is...accountability.

We must hold the executive leaders of financial firms and their boards accountable. I believe the board of a company should be more involved in oversight of the executive leaders of the firm and be held accountable for this oversight. Second, the President, CEO, CFO, CIO, etc. should not be allowed to select any board members for whom they work for. No more YES MEN!

Next, we must prosecute the villains at these firms to the full extent of the law and no more slaps on the wrists with fines only. For example, Franklin Raines, former President/CEO of Fannie Mae and other former executives recently paid a $24 million fine; but they are free to do it again. They perpetuated a $9.3 billion accounting scandal and all that happens to them is a fine?

Heck, if I as a Mortgage Broker committed a serious financial crime I can lose my license and my ability to make money, be fined hundreds of thousands of dollars (which is more than my net worth currently), and be thrown in jail. Why the heck is Mr. Raines able to advise Senator Obama on financial and housing matters as a free man and not be in jail? It ticks me off!

Third, we as shareholders of all companies must fight back on golden parachutes. I have heard argued that without golden parachutes CEO's and other executives would not take any risks. Hogwash! Under the current system, either way THEY WIN! IT'S HEADS I WIN, TAILS YOU LOSE!

If a CEO grows the earnings and the value of a company they win through stock options and bonuses. I have no problem with this as they earned it as they helped the company and its shareholders make more money.

But, if the company's earnings drop or its value drops, these CEO's still win when they "resign" through their golden parachutes, in which they receive tens of millions of dollars or more. This is wrong! This is how they win either way.

I will end with this idea from Dennis Miller in September when he appeared on Bill O'Reilly's show on Fox. Dennis said we should give all these CEOs actual parachutes made out of gold and then take them up to 30,000 feet and force them to jump out of the plane. That's my kind of golden parachute!

This week the S&P Case-Shiller Index was released with information from the month of August. For Denver, home prices have increased 4.1% in the last 6 months since March! This continues to be great news.

It appears that for Denver, March was the bottom of the market. Hopefully, this bottom will hold through this credit crunch the last 2 months and the slower winter months.

For the last year Denver home prices are down 5% which makes us the 4th best large real estate market in the country according to Case-Shiller. Nationally, home prices in the 20 largest cities dropped 16%.