Author: Fritz Pettyjohn

Without their support, I don’t think this gets done.  They have no idea what we’re doing, no clue that Article V exists, or why.  We’ll probably have 30 states this year, and people still won’t know, or care, what we’re doing.

All the polls show broad disgust with Congress and the whole federal government.  People don’t trust it any more, unlike a generation ago.  They have a lot more faith in their state government.  If this is seen as a fight between the states and the feds, the states win.  We need to control the narrative, tell our story, and bring the people behind us.

There’s a school of thought that we need to operate in the shadows, so as not to arouse our opponents.  I could not disagree more.  To me, politics is done in public.  Opponents are confronted, not hidden from.  I welcome a debate.  I would relish it.  And we would win it.

Do the people of this country want to empower the states, and rein in the federal government?  I say, yes they do.  Let’s show them how it’s done.  But first we need to get their attention.  I have a plan which I’m going to try and sell to legislative leaders around the country.  If they buy in, we’ll debut the first week of June.  Let’s spend the next six months debating the merits of this plan, and go into 2016 with 34 wired.

The Constitution’s an idea on a piece of paper.  It’s central to our identity as Americans because we believe in it, and will fight for it.  A BBA is another piece of paper, another idea.  It will work, if at all, if the American people believe in it, and will insist on it.

I want to engage our enemies, in the open, before the American people.  They’ll decide.

It’s the fight I’ve wanted all my life.

Democrats on the West Virginia Assembly Judiciary Committee successfully stalled our bill today, killing it.  Now, in order to get to 34 this year, we would need special sessions in two states.  That’s possible, but a real stretch.  And that may not be a bad thing.

Everyone involved wants to get this over and done with, for a host of good reasons.  But one reason was dubious: this would allow the vote for delegates to state ratifying conventions take place on Election Day 2016.  This would be a boon to Republicans all across the country, at all levels.  We have thought this would motivate Republican state legislators to push our bill through this year.  It really hasn’t worked.  While this idea appealed to a few legislators it wasn’t enough, in West Virginia, Wyoming and Montana.

A BBA is not a Republican idea.  We’re not out to help Republicans win elections.  We just want a balanced budget.  We don’t want another Great Depression.  We don’t want Greek economic chaos caused by Greek levels of debt.  If Boehner and McConnell want the BBA ratified they’ll have it done at State Conventions.  The best chance of controlling these Conventions is through special elections, with low turnout.  A lot of low information voters show up at the polls every four years, never to be seen again until four years later.  These people are like Catholics who only attend Mass on Easter. The Catholics who go to Mass every Sunday should decide the future of the Church, not the once a year types. The people who care enough to vote in special elections should decide the future of this country, not the gadflies who vote only in Presidential contests.

We might be better off having the Amendment Convention next year.  If it was held this summer people might not be ready for it.  To proceed in an orderly and timely fashion, the Convention should be organized in advance.  State legislative leaders, Speakers and Senate Presidents, need to establish lines of communication with one another, and to agree on an agenda.  Some of the items on this agenda may be unfamiliar to people, and may need a great deal of public discussion before the Convention convenes.  Time is needed to accomplish all of this.  It’s what I’m working on right now, and it’s a daunting task.  The leaders of at least 26 states need to come to an understanding.  That’s a tall order.  I think the extra time will make it a lot easier.

So, sorry, Republicans.  You’re probably going to have to win 2016 without the BBA being on the ballot.  Actually, if the R’s lack the wit to beat Hillary, they deserve to lose.  She’s a mess.  Though I despise him, I admit that Bill Clinton is gifted politically.  Somehow, for some reason, she thinks that because she married him, and put up with his bullshit all these years, she should be gifted too.  But she sucks.  But I’ll give her this  — she’s no quitter.  She’ll scratch and claw and shriek the whole way, to the end.  She will be the culmination of the Obama Era.  A fiasco.

On my dark side I have a vengeful streak.  It’s unattractive and unchristian, but there it is.  Turn the other cheek, my ass. I want the Clintons humiliated.  As Sulla Felix said in his epitaph, “No friend ever served me, and no enemy ever wronged me, whom I have not repaid in full.”

Words to live by.

West Virginia.  Number 27 would be heaven.  We hoped to be in and out of House Judiciary, and on the floor, last night.  Instead we’re in Judiciary at 10:00 a.m.on Saturday, March 14, the last day our bill can be considered.  In committee or on the floor.  This could be the result of the last minute press of business, or stalling by the opposition.  The question now is how much Speaker Armstead wants this bill, how high of a priority is it?  If he runs out of time today he must make choices  — what passes this year, and what must wait until 2016?  How late is he willing to hold the House in session?  Is he willing to “stop the clock” at midnight and continue working into what is, technically, Sunday?

I’m 3,000 miles away, and can’t know any of this.  I feel like I’m in the waiting room at a maternity ward.

I’m always trying to think of one.  You can be creative in politics.  You can also make a fool of yourself.  Figuring out what works, and what doesn’t, is what makes a good politician.

Senate Majority Leader Bart Davis of Idaho will never be convinced, just as Andy Biggs will never be convinced, that there is not a legal possibility of a runaway.  Once it convenes, the Convention is subject to no external control.  No one has any authority over it, except its own members, the states.  I want to try to convince him that if the Convention were held this year, with the current configuration of political power in this country, a runaway is actually, if not legally, impossible.  I believe the best way to demonstrate this to him is to prepare a pamphlet containing the pictures of each of the legislative leaders in the Republican states, along with a brief political biography, including NRA membership or endorsement, conservative legislative accomplishment etc.  In addition to the Republican states I would include pictures and bios from the seven split states*, which, at the Convention, would likely align with the Republicans.  Altogether it’s 38 states, a 3/4 supermajority.

These are people Davis will identify with.  They’re people who are just as patriotic as he is, and have proven it.  These are the people who will control this convention.  They’re his peers.  They’re just like him, except a bit more cosmopolitan, in some cases.

These people are a threat to the Constitution?  My God, these people are more dedicated to the Constitution than any group in this country.  But he doesn’t know that.  He doesn’t know any thing about these people, just as they don’t know anything about him.

These people need to be introduced to each other.  Thus, the pamphlet.

When I was in college we used to call ideas like this “mind attacks.”  I’ve been having a lot of them lately.

Maine, Minnesota, Iowa, Kentucky, Colorado, Washington and New Mexico.

More good news today, as the Oklahoma Senate passed the Convention of States bill.  Since it is far broader than ours, and raises fears of a runaway that ours does not, any chamber which passes CoS will, logically, pass ours.  We look very good in Oklahoma, which would be a huge win.  My impression, from 1500 miles away, is that Dr. Coburn’s powerful endorsement made the difference.  Thank you, Doctor, and may you win your fight with cancer.  This may be the most significant service you have performed in your political career.

We passed the West Virginia Senate on a voice vote, will be heard in House Committee tomorrow, and on the House floor Saturday, the final day it can be taken up.  This is a little scary, because at this point in a session bills can die for a lot of reasons other than lack of majority support.  Republicans haven’t controlled the West Virginia Legislature in about 85 years, and they’ve got a lot on their agenda.  We will be competing, in a sense, with a lot of other legislation that they may have prioritized.  We may just run out of time.  It may depend on where we appear on Saturday’s House Calendar.  At the top, good.  At the bottom, bad.  The Speaker makes the call.

Organizing the Amendment Convention will be a challenge.  In organizing a state legislative majority, most of the members know each other.  Even freshmen know veterans by reputation.  You know who you can trust, and who you can’t.  You know who would be competent in leadership, and who would not.  99% of the time it is a partisan organization, and all the members of the majority want their party to look good and retain control of the chamber after the next election.

The Convention is a different animal.  I had a good meeting with Alaska Senate President Kevin Meyer in Juneau, and got a positive reaction to the proposal I will be promoting to assist in organizing the Convention.  If he was acquainted with legislative leadership in any other state it would be Washington, with all its ties to Alaska.  Kevin does not know, or even know of, Washington Senate President Pam Roach.  None of these people know each other.  Who can they trust?

I believe they should organize around a set of principles, which I intend to assist as a sort of go between.  I don’t think organizing around who will be the Chairman of the Convention would work.  If a group of 26 states agree to an agenda, they can have a wide open contest for leadership, and may the best person win.  To get to 26 you start with a core group, which I think should be the western states, leading off with those west of the 100th meridian.  You can get   almost half way to 26 with this core.  Add in the eastern west, the five states from North Dakota south to Texas, and you’ve got a majority of a majority, say 16 of 26.  Pick up ten more in the south, or elsewhere, and you’ve organized the Convention.  What you don’t do is have a meeting of the 31 Republican delegations and just see what happens.  All must be decided, and votes counted, in advance.

It was nice to be back in Juneau for a day.  There are three legislators still serving who were my colleagues when I was last there, 25 years ago.  Johnny Ellis, Max Gruenberg, and Lyman Hoffman, an Eskimo from Bethel.  I used to play a lot of cribbage with Lyman in the legislative lounge.  We were evenly matched, and our games were intense.  He was a character.  That’s the best thing I got out of my eight years in Juneau.

I made some friends.