Author: Fritz Pettyjohn

The Republican State Leadership Council is the arm of the Party tasked with electing R’s at the state level, saving Governors.  They spend around $30 million an election cycle, and, if results count for anything, are doing the job.  They’ve adopted a BBA through Article V as their own issue, and ask all state legislative leaders to pledge to support it.

Micah Ketchel is the guy from RSLC who works with us.  He’s been on some Friday cc’s, and a couple months back I suggested he do something for us.  He kind of blew me off, so I’ve been reluctant to approach him again.  But we need help in Wyoming and Idaho, so I emailed him and he got right back.  He said he will make the calls to legislative leadership that we need.  When a man who has $30 million in his pocket calls, you listen.

I didn’t ask him to make the sale.  I’ll do that, if necessary.  But he’ll get me in the room.  Two months ago the current Wyoming Speaker of the House, Tom Lubnau (who was with us) told me his successor would be Rep. Kermit Brown.  So I called him up and he basically blew me off.  Once you’re blown off, you’re blown off, as far as I’m concerned.  So I’m not going to try to cold call these Wyoming Senators.  I need an intro, and Micah can get it.

I feel better about Wyoming already.

I emailed yesterday’s post to Robert Costa at the WaPo and Jake Tapper at Fox.  It went to their publicly available website, so it probably won’t be read.  But there’s a story here.  The Article V Coalition has members who are well known and respected.  The mission of the Coalition is credible.  It’s goal is a political bombshell that would upend the Presidential race.

But I’m not a journalist, so I must be missing something.

2016 could be a Republican landslide, thanks in large part to an issue to be dealt with in twelve State Capitols next year.  It’s political gold for Republicans, and toxic for Democrats.  It’s been debated for over forty years, and could emerge as the overriding theme of the next election.

It’s a balanced budget amendment (BBA), proposed directly by the States under Article V.  24 of the required 34 States have passed the necessary Resolution, six within the last year.  Twelve additional States have been targeted for 2015.; thanks to the wave election on Nov. 4th, Republicans are in complete control of all of them.  The National Federation of Independent Business, the Republican State Leadership Council, the Jefferson Project of the American Legislative Exchange Council, State Policy Networks in target states, the National Tax Limitation Committee, the National Taxpayers Union, the Liberty Congress, IamAmerican, the Reagan Project, and the Balanced Budget Amendment Task Force have joined forces in an Article V Coalition to get at least ten more State Resolutions by early summer.  Sponsors have been identified, bills drafted, legislative strategies adopted, and grass roots support mobilized.

Seven months from now, when the 34th State passes its BBA Resolution, the House Judiciary Committee will aggregate them, recommend to the House and Senate a time and place for the Amendment Convention, and a means of ratification. Ratification by State Convention would be quick and easy, and thus the obvious choice.  This was the method used for the 21st Amendment.  Members of the Article V Coalition are in close contact with leaders in both Houses, and are confident of a warm reception.  It’s in everyone’s best interest that this go smoothly.

In summer and early fall of next year all 50 State Legislatures will meet to select and instruct delegates.  Late in the year, or in early 2016 — just as the Presidential nominating contests enter high gear —  the first Amendment Convention in American history will meet, elect a Chair, adopt rules, and deliberate on the language of the proposed amendment.  When 26 States agree on a proposal, it will be submitted for ratification and the Convention will adjourn.  Delegates to the State Ratification Conventions will be chosen on election day, 2016.  The only issue in these elections will be the proposed amendment: yea or nay.

For two generations polls have shown consistently strong majorities for a BBA — 80% of Republicans and Independents, 65% of Democrats.  The dysfunction in Washington, and the attendant debt, could increase public support.  When the public becomes aware of the power granted to the States by Article V, support would grow further.  Currently the only organized opposition to this idea is from the John Birch Society and the Eagle Forum, and their influence is declining.

The proposed amendment will have the enthusiastic support of the Republican nominee, who may well have had a hand in drafting it.  It could be the centerpiece of the campaign.

Only the votes of Republican State Legislators can stop this from happening.

Oh, and by the way, what’s a Democrat to do?

Polls show 65% of Democrats support a BBA.  So we should get support from Democratic state legislators, no?

Fuggedaboutit.  Sure, we’ve had some support from D’s in Ohio, all but three in Tennessee, and all of them in Louisiana.  But none of those votes really counted.  The R’s were going to pass the bill anyway, so it was just a question of jumping on a popular issue.  A vote that counts is a deciding vote.  We will not get one of those from a D.  In the seven states the Task Force has won in the last two years, no chamber was controlled by Democrats.  And going forward, no Democrat State Senate President, and no Democrat Speaker of a State House, will ever let our bill on to the floor for a vote.  Ain’t going to happen.  This will not be true with later Article V Resolutions, such as term limits.

Back in the 70’s and 80’s, when Lew Uhler was working this pretty much singlehandedly, he was able to get support from a lot of D’s, mainly in the South.  In ’84, in Alaska, Sen. Bob Ziegler, Democrat, Ketchikan, carried the bill.  It didn’t have a prayer without him.  Those days, and those Democrats, are gone.

This is not to say we want to make this a partisan issue.  Far from it.  We’re bipartisan as hell, as far as I’m concerned.  I live in California, so I’m a registered Democrat myself.  (If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em.)

I’m repeating myself, but we’re not in this to elect Republicans, except when we need them in Congress to give Article V a fair shake.  If Harry Reid was running the Senate we’d be s.o.o.l.

So the previous post, The Sleeper of 2016, may have sounded like a partisan appeal, but it wasn’t meant to be.  It was realpolitik.  This may sound mean, but from the BBA’s perspective,

The only good Democrat is a Democrat in the Minority.

I love this guy.  When he’s a kid he reads “Atlas Shrugged”, and he’s sold.

So he goes out and makes a fortune making exercise equipment, of all things.  And then he thinks about that book, and how cool a movie version would be.  So he makes the movie.

What a guy.  A real ‘merican.

The election of 2016 could be a Republican rout.  An issue is bubbling in State Capitols across the country that is political gold for Republicans, and toxic to Democrats.  It’s been debated for over forty years, and may soon reemerge as the overriding theme of our next election.

It’s a balanced budget amendment (BBA), to be proposed directly by 34 state legislatures under the terms of Article V of the Constitution.  24 states have passed Resolutions calling for a BBA Convention, six of them within the last year.  Twelve additional state legislatures have been targeted for 2015; Republicans are in complete control of all of them.  The Republican State Leadership Council, the National Federation of Independent Business, the Jefferson Project of the American Legislative Exchange Council, numerous State Policy Networks, and the Balanced Budget Amendment Task Force have joined forces in this campaign.  Sponsors have been identified, bills drafted, legislative strategies adopted, and grass roots support mobilized.

In six months, when the 34th state passes a BBA Resolution, the House Judiciary Committee will aggregate them, recommend to the full House and Senate a time and place for the Amendment Convention, and a means of ratification.  Chairman Bob Goodlatte is a friend of the BBA and of Article V.  His committee will be urged to choose ratification by state convention, rather than through state legislatures.  This was the method used for ratification of the 21st Amendment.

All 50 state legislatures will then meet to select delegates.  In late 2015, just as the Presidential nomination contests enter high gear, the delegations will meet, select a chairman, adopt rules, and deliberate on the language of the proposed amendment..  When 26 states agree on a proposal, it will be submitted to the states for ratification, and the Convention will adjourn.  Election of the delegates to each state’s ratification convention will take place on Nov. 8th 2016, coincidental with the Presidential and Congressional elections.  The only issue in the convention elections will be the proposed amendment: yea or nay.

For two generations public polling has shown overwhelming support for a balanced budget amendment.  Currently 80% of Republicans and Independents are in favor, as well as 65% of Democrats.  The continuing dysfunction in Washington, and the ever ballooning national debt, could push those numbers higher.

The proposed amendment will have the enthusiastic support of the Republican nominee, who may well have had a hand in drafting it.  It would be one of the main themes of the election, if not the centerpiece.

What’s a Democrat going to do?