Miscellaneous

If two things are accomplished at the Seattle Summit it will be a success.  Get as many states as possible, at least 26, to declare individually and collectively that voting at the Amendment Convention will be one state, one vote, and that only one Amendment, to balance the budget, will be considered.

At our meeting yesterday morning Senator Faber gave a little riff on the subject.  He said, in two or three minutes, in his own words, what we want every legislative leader to say  — it’s one state, one vote, or else no Convention.  And one Amendment on one subject  — balancing the budget  — will be the only topic of discussion.

I’ve asked my old Alaska friend David Cuddy to record all this on film.  I want 30, 40, 50 legislative leaders, Democrat and Republican, to be recorded saying essentially what Faber did, only in their own words.  Except that would be too long.  I don’t think we want to produce anything over half an hour, but then I’m just guessing.  We’ve got plenty of time to figure out the best format.  We want something to demonstrate to the runaway fear mongers that their worries are complete fantasies in the real world.  We’ll figure it out.

Every Democrat presiding officer should agree to the same thing.  There are only 30 of them, and aside from New York, California and Illinois it’s in their best interest that we have a one state, one vote rule.  And would any of them have a problem agreeing that a BBA should be the only topic under consideration?  I think not.  So we should have virtually unanimous support.

I’m floundering, trying to figure out how to convey this.  It should definitely be on a video, but in what format?  I really don’t know.  We’ve got time to think about it.  Whatever we come up with, it would be an attraction to attend the Summit.  What politician wouldn’t want to be featured in this video?  None that I’ve ever met.

I emailed Cuddy, hoping to get him to take this on.  Whoever does the video of Seattle will be in line to be the official video crew at the Amendment Convention.  That would be a plum.

Because Faber agreed to send the invitation to Seattle, the trip to Savannah was a success.  There was no way I was going to pull this off myself.  With Faber and Senator Long of Indiana “sponsoring” the Summit, in the sense of issuing the invitation, we’ve taken a huge step forward.  The Summit will happen, and it will be a success.  But, to what extent?

They start small, gather mass and speed, and become powerful.  You gotta start somewhere, so I started in Alaska, then to Washington, Idaho, Utah, Wyoming and on through the west.  But to really get rolling we need precisely what we got from Senator Faber this morning.  He agreed to co-sign an invitation to the Seattle Summit, along with his friend President Long of Indiana, to all presiding officers, 97 in all.  He’s responsible for finalizing Ohio’s budget, which ties him up until July 1st.  After that he agreed to do conference calls with fellow presiding officers, leading up to August 3rd.

Faber’s term limited out next year, and it’s pretty obvious what his next move is  — a run against very liberal Sherrod Brown for the U. S. Senate, or a prominent role in the Kasich administration.  Maybe both.  Republicans in Ohio have their act together, and plan these things out.

On July 1st, when his budget is done, Faber led us to believe that Kasich will make a decision on running.  All signs point to a go.  The first debate is in Cleveland on August 6th.  I will offer to do what I can, in California and the west.  Faber talked a little about Kasich’s plan.  Do well enough in New Hampshire and South Carolina to be considered a top tier candidate, and go from there.  Kasich can raise the money to do it.  No one has any idea how long it will take to clinch.  California’s primary is on June 7th 2016, with around 10% of the delegates, 20% of a majority at the Convention, at stake.  The Democrats in Sacramento have complete control of this process, and no one knows for sure what they’ll decide to do.  Anything from winner take all to strict proportionality is possible.  A serious campaign has to allow for the possibility that the whole thing could come down to California.  The last time I recall that happening was 1964, but you never know.

The guy with some clout is my partner Lew Uhler.  He’s known everybody in California politics for the last 50 years.  Lew’s pretty hard core, like I am, and wants the most conservative candidate who can win.  I’m going to talk to him about Kasich.  Kasich can not only win, he can govern.  You can’t say that, with any confidence, about Paul, Rubio or Cruz.  Walker could govern, but in pandering to the ethanol lobby in Iowa I’ve lost confidence in him.  As he describes himself, he’s unintimidated.  But he certainly didn’t display any balls in Iowa.  Plus, of course, where the hell is he on Article V and the BBA?  MIA.  Perry’s from Texas, and sounds and acts too much like G.W. Bush to go anywhere.  IMHO.

Faber sealed the deal for Kasich when I asked him about the Mideast.  I’m an antiwar libertarian, and I’m damned if I’m going to support anyone who wants to nation build or get boots on the ground in that lunatic asylum.  Israel’s security is one thing.  Our guarantee of that is absolute.  But beyond that we don’t need the Mideast, or their oil.  We’ve got  our own.  No more war for oil.  No more war.  Faber said he’s gun shy himself, but that Kasich is even more strongly committed to staying out of that mess.  Rand Paul appealed to me because he’s got the balls to say no to war.  I believe Faber when he says Kasich does too.

Merle Madrid was passing out bumper stickers, and I took a few.  I’ll put one on my truck.  I haven’t had a Presidential bumper sticker on my vehicle in 35 years.  I haven’t had a candidate to support since then.  I’m picky.  I don’t do these things lightly.  Kasich’s not the Gipper.  I’m under no illusions.  But he’s a real guy.  That’s rare, and refreshing.  Article V is more important than any Presidential election.  And we’re certainly not going to become an arm of the Kasich campaign.  But it’s nice, for me, to finally have a candidate.  I talk to a lot of people from all over the country.  Conservative Republicans.  They all rule out Bush and Christie, but they don’t know who to be for.

Now I’ve got a suggestion for them.

Sen. Faber has a trial scheduled for August 3rd.  If he settles, he’ll make it to the Seattle Summit.  If not, he’ll send someone in his stead.  He lives 60 miles from Indiana Senate President David Long, his close ally.  He can get Long, or Long’s representative, to attend as well.

This means we’re half way to 26, a magic number.  I feel confident Biddulph and I can get eight more.  If Faber, or another leader, can get us five more we’ve got a quorum.  Once we get a quorum we have the kernel of an organization.  An organization that can be formalized in a second, Annapolis, Summit in December, also taking place in conjunction with an NCSL meeting.

Faber is skeptical about the Reagan Initiative.  New ideas take time.  It takes a while to sink in.  I believe he has an open mind .  That’s enough for me.  I’ve got seven months to convince him.

Right now there are Fish and Wildlife agents in Washington state who are out killing owls.  These are beautiful animals  –barred owls, a larger and more aggressive species than the spotted owl.  They’ll kill about 3,600 of these marvelous animals, because they’re behind the decline in the spotted owl population.  Not habitat loss, but competition from a superior species of owl is the problem.

Why are people crazy?

The only money I ever made in politics, aside from my legislative salary, was $10,000 that Frank Murkowski gave me in 1980.  He was running for the U.S. Senate against Democrat Clark Gruening, and they were running dead even in the polls.  In the legislature Clark had co-sponsored a constitutional amendment called the Environmental Bill of Rights.  A very bad move, politically.  Alaskans don’t like environmentalists.  It’s a dirty word.  Frank, and his campaign manager, my friend Bill McConkey, were struggling to find a way to nail him on it.  They hired me, I did the hit, and Frank shot up ten points in the polls.  That’s what he won by.

I wanted to succeed Frank in the Senate.  Everybody knew that.  He wanted to be Governor.  When he made his move, I’d run for his seat.  In 1992 he ran for a third term, and I thought he’d go for the governorship in 1994, but he passed.  1998 was his year.  Democrat Tony Knowles was running for reelection, and Frank was the only Republican who could beat him.  I was set to run for Frank’s seat.  I was 53 and in my prime.  My newspaper column and talk radio show had maintained my political viability, and I was raring to go.

Frank ran for a fourth term, and I could see the handwriting on the wall.  It was not to be.  When his daughter, Lisa, ran for the State House, I knew what was up.  She was a young wife and mother, and had no business serving in the state legislature. She wasn’t all that bright, for one thing.  I’m being nice.

When my wife came to Alaska with me she made quite a sacrifice, and she always wanted to get back to California, her family, and friends.  So we made the move in 2001.  Frank was elected Governor in 2002, and interviewed a lot of people, trying to decide who he should appoint to serve out his term in the Senate.  My buddy Rick Halford, an extremely bright guy, was one of them.  I was in California, but I knew what Frank was up to.  After giving it a lot of thought,he decided his daughter, Lisa, was the best person for the job, and appointed her.

So for twelve years I was out of politics, living the life of Riley in sunny California.  I went to Alaska to get into Congress, and had failed.  Then, a year and a half ago, I saw a chance to get back in the game, working for Article V.  I’m enjoying myself a lot more than I would be if I was in Washington.  And Article V is a lot more important than anything I could have done as a Senator.

The Lord works in mysterious ways.

Seattle is as far away from Washington as you get in the contiguous 48 states.  Which makes it a good place to start.  The primary goal is to come to an agreement that voting at the Convention will be one state, one vote; that only one Amendment  — dealing with a balanced budget  — will be in order at the Convention, and that that Amendment contain provisions for land transfers and regulatory reform.  A good day’s work, if achieved.  If that is accomplished the next step is to agree on a subsequent time and place to meet in order to expand the participation to as many states as possible.  The obvious time is December, in between the regularly scheduled meetings of ALEC and the NCSL.  Those meeting take place in D.C., which is an hour’s drive from Annapolis.

The State House in Annapolis is the Capitol of Maryland, built in 1772 and the oldest State Capitol still used by a legislature.  Between November of 1783 and June of 1784 it was the U.S. Capitol, where the Continental Congress met.  It was here on December 23, 1783 that General George Washington tendered his resignation as Commander in Chief of the Army.

The Maryland legislature is one of the bluest in the country, and I’m not at all sure they’d put the welcome mat out for this December meeting.  Maybe the Governor, a conservative Republican, would have some influence with them.  If there’s no room at the State House that would be available, maybe we could meet at the Naval Academy.  Or we may wind up in a hotel.  We’ll see.

It’s hard to say, this far out, what would be covered at Annapolis.  One thing would be to recommend to the Convention what its rules should be.  The Assembly of State Legislatures has been working on that for a year and a half, so maybe they’ll have something to propose.  Another item is the funding of the Convention.  Some amount of money will have to be spent in organizing and conducting this Convention.  We should not rely, in any way, on Congress to pay for it.  Seattle and Annapolis will be privately funded, with the National Tax Limitation Committee paying the bills.  The actual Convention should be paid for by the states.  If 26 states kicked in $50,000 you’d have $1.3 million, enough to cover it.

Another possibility is to recommend a site for the Amendment Convention to Congress.  I think the Capitol at Richmond, designed by Thomas Jefferson, would be best.  Houdon’s bust of Washington is prominently displayed there.  I’ve seen replicas, but never the original.  It’s as precious as any work of art in America.  Houdon captured Washington, the man.  A lot of people think of Washington as a blue blood Virginia aristocrat, with powdered wig and all.  In fact George Washington was a soldier, and a man’s man.  He was the kind of man other men followed in war.  In high school he’d be captain of the football team, not class President.  He’d be the middle linebacker, a stud, and when he told the guys up front to hold that line they’d do it or die trying.

There were two American foundings, the first at Jamestown in 1607, the second at Plymouth in 1619.  The Virginians gave us our libertarian philosophy.  The Puritans up north were anti-libertarian.  They were Bible thumping religious fanatics that would burn you at the stake if they thought you were a witch.  Their political legacy is the modern Democratic party, which will destroy anyone out of line with its politically correct dogmas.  American political history is, in some ways, the story of the fight between these two visions.  It started with Jefferson against Adams, and we’re still fighting.

We’re with Jefferson, and liberty.  So let’s meet in Richmond.