Month: June 2017

My latest post at American Thinker

In 1975 the campaign to adopt a Balanced Budget through Article V was started by Democratic state legislators in Maryland and Mississippi.  Until 1983, when Alaska became the 32nd state, it was truly bipartisan.   The Alaska Senate, where I served, was controlled by Democrats, and the sponsor of the BBA Resolution was Democrat Bob Ziegler of Ketchikan.  There was no debate.

As the specter of an Article V convention loomed, the Democratic Party national leadership decided to kill it.  In an unholy alliance with Phyllis Schlafy and the John Birch Society, the national Democrats and their union allies were able to rescind the resolutions in 16 states.  Since that time, no chamber of any legislature under Democratic control has passed a BBA resolution.

The BBA campaign lay dormant for almost 30 years, until Bill Fruth and Dave Biddulph formed the Balanced Budget Amendment Task Force in 2011.  At the time they expected to get some support from middle of the road Democrats, who had complete control of 27 state legislatures.  But their only successes have been in Republican controlled bodies.

There are 32 such legislatures today.  In 2011 there were fourteen.  It is because of the turning of the political tides in 2013 that the Task Force has had the success it has.  But the election of Trump the Improbable seems, at the moment, to be the peak of the tide, and it may turn back next year.

Earlier this year, Democratic majorities in New Mexico, Nevada and Maryland rescinded their BBA resolutions, which had passed in the late 1970’s.  None of the 27 remaining resolutions are from states under Democratic control.  The seven states needed to reach the magic number of 34 are all Republican controlled.

There are currently 32 legislatures controlled by Republicans.  Maine, Washington, Alaska and Colorado are split control.  If the Democrats get control of either Alaska or Colorado after the 2018 elections, (and they could), their existing BBA resolutions would almost certainly be rescinded.

It’s been a hundred years since Republicans have controlled so many legislatures, and it’s not likely to last.  The Republicans in Washington, from Trump down, are hurting the Republican brand.  Even though Democrats have no real agenda other than resistance, it would be foolhardy not to expect a Republican retreat in 2018.

I won’t go so far as to say it’s 2018 or bust for the BBA, but that’s where the smart money is.  The Phoenix Convention of States, if it’s as successful as we hope, could give us the boost we need to get to 34 next year.  We’re running out of ideas, and need help.  Maybe Phoenix will convince people we’re for real.

Actually, I don’t think the Alaska Senate will lose its Republican majority.  The politics of the Alaska legislature are complicated by a history of bipartisan coalitions.  The current chairman of the Senate Finance Committee is Democrat Lyman Hoffman of Bethel.  He is helping to lead the Senate majority in fighting reinstatement of the state income tax.

It looks as though Lyman and his colleagues will prevail, and, in my opinion, that will assure that they maintain control of the Senate.

Lyman and I served together in the Alaska House for four years, from 1986-90.  We weren’t pals, as he was a tight lipped member of the majority, and I was raising hell as the minority leader.  But the Alaska legislature was collegial in those days, and we played each other in the cribbage tournament in the legislative lounge.

Once the dust settles in Juneau I’ll be giving Lyman a call.  We haven’t spoken in 27 years.  I’ll ask him to join me in attending the Phoenix Convention.  We could play a game of crib for old times sake.

 

 

As soon-to-be Representative Greg Gianforte heads to Washington and his swearing in, his hometown newspaper, the Bozeman Daily Chronicle leads its front page with this headline:  “Gianforte calls for civil politics after assaulting a reporter.”  Another front page story describes his lawyers seeking to avoid having a mug shot taken of him.

They won’t let this go.  This body slammer label will stick to him until he finds a way to change the subject.  How can he do that?

He’ll have lower seniority than anyone in Congress.  He represents a small and politically insignificant state.  As a politician, he hasn’t demonstrated much skill.  He lost a very winnable Governor’s race last year, while Trump was winning a landslide.

Most people think he wants to run for Governor in 2020.  He’s a self made multi-millionaire who loves his life in Montana.  He’as not going to put up with being a Congressman for long.

So what can he do in the next three years that will convince Republican voters to nominate him for Governor a second time?

Babbie and I are driving to Bozeman in six weeks, just as Congress goes into its August recess.  Gianforte will spend much of that recess at his home in Bozeman.  I hope to meet him.  What better for a new political identity than the Balanced Budget Amendment?  Instead of body slamming Gianforte, let’s have Balanced Budget Gianforte.

Bill Fruth gave his weekly report today on the Phoenix Convention.  The committee of legislators appointed to plan it is starting to come together, and make some decisions.  A lot’s going to be riding on Phoenix.

The Balanced Budget Amendment Task Force, thanks to the generosity of Dave and Suzie Biddulph, will be sponsoring a breakfast at the ALEC annual meeting in Denver.  On the last day of the meeting, Friday, July 21st, Rep. Ken Buck will be addressing the 500 or so state legislators in attendance on behalf of the Task Force.  After the breakfast is over, Rep. Buck will stay and be available to sign books and answer questions.

Ken Buck represents the most rural part of Colorado.  It’s a lot like Montana.  He and Greg Gianforte would probably hit it off.  It would sure be nice if Buck could explain Article V to his new colleague.

“… Maine and Texas, it may be, have nothing important to communicate.”

That was Henry David Thoreau’s reaction to the prospect of nation wide telegraph service in 1848.  We were a divided nation then, stumbling toward a catastrophic Civil War.  What unites us now?  What can most of us agree on?

Can’t we all pretty much agree that Congress is a broken institution, barely capable of functioning at all?   Don’t a lot of lefties and liberals realize that this concentration of wealth and power in the Washington beltway is unhealthy for democracy?

Most Republican conservatives, and that’s most Republicans, have some sympathy for Paul Ryan, Mitch McConnell, and the rest of the Republican leadership.  (Including, especially, Rep. Steve Scalise, may the Lord help him).   But even if you like and respect them, they have an almost impossible job.

Because the institutions they lead don’t work, can’t really work.  The system is broken, and incapable of fixing itself.  What can be done?

Pass a Balanced Budget Amendment through Article V, and see what happens.  Will Congress respond by faithfully following the new instructions in the Constitution?  Or will they play their typical games, and pay as much attention to the BBA as they do to the necessary and proper clause of the Constitution?

What can we do if they flout the BBA?  Recall them, all of them.  That would require another Article V Amendment.  It could simply state that at the next federal election no sitting member of Congress would be eligible to run.  Senators with two and four years remaining could retain their seats, but only for the rest of their terms.

This would not be a term limits amendment.  The newly elected members of Congress can serve as long as their constituents elect them.  But all of them would know that the state legislatures of this country were ready, willing, and able to throw them all out if they don’t perform.  They will have done it once, and can do it again.

Who would these new Congressmen be?  Most likely, the leaders of the state legislatures.  A lot of these people have ambition for higher office.   A Senate President, or a House Speaker, is a good candidate for the United States Senate.  Other leading state legislators would run for the House.

Since this would be a brand new Congress, voters will want experienced legislators, with a proven track record, to represent them.  In one sense, an Article V Congressional recall amendment convention would be a meeting of the same people, more or less, who would be taking over Congress if the amendment is ratified.  This may provide some bipartisan motivation.

Congress gets to decide how it’s ratified, so it would be by special state Conventions.  My hunch is that the people of this country, left and right, would jump at the chance to throw the bums out, and start over.

Maybe that’s how we unite the country.  Against Congress.

 

Special agent Loren Enns reports that the Wisconsin House has passed the BBA Resolution 54-41.  Great news.  Except.

R’s have 64 votes in this chamber, 35 D’s.  That means at least six Republicans voted no.   That’s not good,  although it should be noted that our main opponent, the John Birch Society, was born in Wisconsin, and still is something of a force there, politically.

In the Senate the split is 20-13, which means we could lose three R Senators and still pass.  The BBA Task Force, Loren in particular, is on the case.  Gov. Walker is a strong supporter, and with some hard work we’ll get to 17, and Wisconsin will be our 28th state.

In an article yesterday about our effort in Wisconsin in Bloomberg BNA, there was some refreshing news.  Our leftist opponents, largely funded by Soros-affiliated organizations, are no longer using the runaway convention myth against us.  Now they’re saying the BBA itself is a dangerous idea.

Good luck with that.  The United States Congress, on a daily basis, demonstrates that an outside intervention is needed.  And that’s what Article V is for.