Month: February 2016

But you can give then to the birds and bees.

Looking at the millions of dollars thrown away on Jeb’s super-pac, and the countless wasted small donations to kindly Dr. Carson, and the cascade of spending by Americans for Prosperity, and on, and on, it’s very frustrating to be operating this campaign for an Article V BBA on a shoestring.  We have yet to get any serious money, and if we succeed we will have achieved an historic victory.  Biddulph and others on the Task Force have beat their heads against the wall trying to get funding, with little to show for it.

Son and RP Co-founder Brendan has been on the phone trying to solicit small donations, and he may be getting a little traction.  If you’re on this website after talking to Brendan, welcome.  Any bit of help we get will be greatly appreciated.

I put in an article to AT on the Supreme Court vacancy, and it should be up tomorrow.

I always knew this election would be a turning point in American history.  I didn’t think they came much bigger.  The death of a great man, Antonin Scalia, has made it, without any question, an election that will determine if we have a future as a constitutional republic.

Everybody who loves their country needs to get in the game.

 

Bill McIlvain’s son Mark is a sixth grade teacher in Cheyenne who has been teaching his class about Article V and the BBA.  He told the Committee they’ve put one million little stickers, or letters, on a 20 foot long wall poster at school, representing One Million dollars of our national debt.  They’ve done the math, and to have posters representing our $19 trillion in debt, the entire city of Cheyenne would be covered in posters.  He brought one of his star students to the hearing, along with her mother.  This little girl understands what we’re trying to do, and she was there at 7:30 in the morning to watch.

Then Bill testified.  It’s been 25 years since he was Speaker, and he said he’s resolutely stayed out of politics since he left.  But the BBA is different, and he explained why.

Bill McIlvain has put his heart and soul into this, and every committee member knows it.  So when Rep. Jennings switched from yes to no, and we lost our majority on the Committee, the room fell quiet.   Everyone knew what had just happened, and Jennings started breaking into a smile before he covered his mouth with his hand.  It was like he’d played a trick on us, and was proud of himself.  Rep. Sue Wilson (D. Cheyenne) saw all of this happen.  She’s known Bill forever.

Now maybe you understand why I say we owe our win in Wyoming to Bill McIlvain.

Virginia Delegate Jim LeMunyon came through, big time, with a 55-45 floor vote.  This is the culmination of long years of thankless labor.  Now on to the Senate, where we are going to be required to get all 21 R’s.  There are other problems besides Sen. Dick Black, and Fruth may fly to Richmond and spend a few days trying to turn votes.  A tall order.  We did have some luck in the House with contacts from Admirals Owens and Woolsey.  They may be able to help in the Senate as well.  We want Virginia very badly, since the Governor, a Democrat, would never call them back in special session.  They need 2/3 to call themselves back in, so that won’t happen.  We either get the Senate or wait until next year.

In Wyoming we should be passed over to the Senate this week, and the Committee Sen Nicholas assigns it to will be a tell.  If it’s anything other than rules, that’s a sign he’s not going to block it.  If it goes to Rules, which he chairs, he’s keeping his options open.

Nobody really understands exactly what Nicholas’ thinking is.  It’s not the usual runaway nonsense.  He wants to use his leverage to get some kind of deal for Wyoming, but that simply can’t happen.  I’m going to try to convince the Cruz campaign to have the Senator call Nicholas personally.  This might happen because it’s the kind of call he’d be making, regardless of the BBA Resolution.  Nicholas is President of the Senate and a likely candidate for Governor.  He has a statewide political network.  He’s very conservative, and his crowd are naturally attracted to Cruz.    Wyoming holds its caucuses and straw vote on March 1st.  Cruz has seven other states up that day, all bigger than Wyoming, so he can’t put much into Wyoming.  But one phone call might be enough to get some buzz going.

As for Nicholas, the likely next President is asking a favor.  He gets to make  fat little deposit in the favor bank.  Maybe he has a buddy who wants a federal judgeship.  He has an account in the favor bank to draw on.  All politicians like to carry a positive balance in this bank.  I think he’d do it for Cruz, we get Wyoming as our 28th state, and Cruz can take credit for it.  Win, win , win.

If this works in Wyoming it would work in Idaho as well.  Sen. Bart Davis has been softened up by Fruth and Greg Casey.  We won’t be asking the Senator to get a legislator to change his mind.  Davis is on the fence right now, and a call from Cruz would put him over, and with him we get Idaho.  He’s a lot like Nicholas, except he’s not running for Governor, and he’s well liked by his colleagues.  Davis has been in Idaho politics a long time, is a distinguished attorney, and is naturally gregarious.  He could do Cruz a whole lot of good.

I would never ask Cruz to call Biggs of Arizona.  That’s asking too much.  But we may well ask him, or Rubio, to call Gov. Ducey for a special session later this spring.  That’s the only way we get Arizona.  From what I know of Biggs, he’d start giving Cruz a lecture on the Constitution.  He’s that much of a nut.

I’ve spent three long days on the road to answer questions from Committee members for about ten minutes.  But it might have been worth it.  We got the Democrats because of their personal feeling toward Bill McIlvain.  Everybody likes Bill.  But I might have greased the skids a bit in answering a question about the drastic spending reductions which would be needed under a BBA.  Sue Wilson is an attractive, well kept, middle aged woman.  She’s plenty bright, and she’s pleasant as well.  Her question was a serious one.  I said I wasn’t an economist but my colleague Bill Fruth is, and he says if we limit the increase in federal spending to 1% a year, and have normal economic growth, we can eliminate the deficit in the near to medium term, and begin paying down the debt in the long term.  That seemed to satisfy her, and it’s a line we should use  more, especially with Democrats.

Sue Wilson got us out of committee.  She did it for Bill, but she also did it because it might  — she’s not sure — be good for the country she loves.

Thanks, Sue.

We got Bunky Loucks, but lost Rep. Mark Jennings, so I thought we were a vote short.  But then Rep. Sue Wilson, a Democrat, switched her vote to yes, followed by the only other Democrat on the Committee, Rep. JoAnn Dayton, so we got out on a 6-3 vote.

Wilson represents the district of our man in Wyoming, former Speaker Bill McIlvain, whom she’s known for years.  I think she switched as a favor to him, but it could be that her district is fairly conservative (as almost all Wyoming districts are) and she decided this was something she liked, and her voters wanted.  We’ll never know.  There are Democrats in Wyoming that are different than the kind we have in California.  They’re sensible people.  We need to bear this in mind going forward.

We lost Jennings because, he said, of integrity.  The Wyoming Senate’s integrity.  He voted for a clean bill last year, the Senate cocked it up, and sent it back to the House on a take it or leave it basis.  How voting against our bill punishes the Senate I haven’t figured out.  Last year Jennings told me in private that he was worried that moderates might take over an Amendment Convention.  The threat of moderation is taken very seriously in Sheridan, Wyoming, apparently.

There was a lot of organized opposition in Wyoming, though no one testified against it.  The Birchers and possibly the Eagle Forum have been busy.  Rep. Roy Edwards said he was a no because of what he’s heard from his constituents.  Period.

Loucks went with us partly because he respects the people he knows in the Utah legislature, who he thinks are more qualified in this kind of subject than he is.  I’m thinking he’s LDS, and that’s why he has faith in his colleagues in Utah.

Rep. Jim Blackburn was a close call.  Later in the House lounge he told me about a very good friend of his, that he and his wife dine with weekly.  They talk a lot about the Constitution.  His friend told him if he voted against our bill they’d never break bread again.

If more people were even aware of Article V we’d get a lot more help like that.

After Iowa, Trump knows he could lose South Carolina, and if he does I think he’s out of the Republican Party.  He’s getting very tired of spending his own money.  And a loss of a twenty point lead would be devastating.  So he continues to bitch about being cheated in Iowa.  It gives him the excuse to quit.  He didn’t lose, because he’s not a loser.  He was cheated by a bunch of politicians, the most dishonest people he’s ever known.  The RNC has been out to get him all along.  So he throws in his hand and goes on a speaking tour, where he’ll ask “his people” if he should go third party.  They’ll all say yes, and then he retreats to his Tower to ponder.  This can keep him in the headlines for another month or two.  In the end, he decides against it.  He’s moved the Party far enough on immigration that he can declare victory.  But that’s only if he loses.

Ain’t politics fun?

In Cheyenne after a bitch of a day. We’re up in House Revenue at 7:30.  Short night, long day.  The spirit is still willing, but the flesh weakens.

My review of “Hail Caesar” is up at AT.

Nothing persuades a cultist.   God only knows what kind of Justice Trump would appoint, but it doesn’t matter.  With Trump’s people nothing  matters.  He’s their guy.  Except, in this case, the NRA has a powerful message to those who aren’t full bore cultists.  The Heller decision was the best thing the NRA has seen since, well, forever.  It cannot be jeapordized by a careless pick for the Court.  A lot of Trump people are hard core on the Second Amendment.  Maybe the NRA can get through to these people.  It’s sure as hell not part of the establishment.

Senate President Phil Nicholas is the key to Wyoming.  I’m going to camp out in his office tomorrow until he sees me.

I’m  more convinced than ever 2016 is a blowout year for Republicans, which means if we don’t get to 34 this year it will happen in 2017. But if we get there this year, in my not so humble opinion, it will be an issue in the fall campaign.  Every Republican candidate needs to understand that.  It makes so much sense, politically, that we’ll start getting help from these guys.  They’re all tied up in their nomination fight, but when a winner emerges, it will be very much in his interest that we succeed.

If we get over the top this year, it’s going to be because we finally got some help.