Miscellaneous

I picked some up in Boise, which will mean more discussion will be needed at the Reagan Summit on the manner of transferring federal lands to the states.  Speaker Scott Bedke explained to me that while 63% of their land belongs to the feds, it is so mismanaged that they spend as much as $200 million a year fighting fires on it.  Idaho manages, correctly, two million acres of its own.  Because it is properly managed, very little is needed for fire suppression.  Idaho will want its land gradually, so that they don’t suddenly wind up with a $200 million firefighting expense.  This can all be worked out by the Federal Land Commission, of course, but it will take time.  The way I see it each legislature would pass a Joint Resolution (not subject to veto  — we’ll leave the governors out of this) listing the lands it wants, and the terms and conditions of the transfer.  The Commission will make the decision, always based on the criteria of balancing the budget.  We need revenues to the Federal Treasury, and/or reductions in federal spending.  I thought the Commission would be able to wrap up its work in two years.  It may need longer.

I chose Alaska as the first state to approach, and Washington the second, for what I thought were good reasons.  I went to Idaho only because we thought me might still have a shot there this year.  That turned out not to be true, but the House leadership was extremely receptive to the idea of the Reagan Amendment.  All’s well that ends well.  Oklahoma will be the next state, because, again, we think we’ve got a real shot there this year.  Injecting the Reagan Amendment into the conversation might help.  It won’t hurt.  Sponsor Gary Banz will make the call.  We didn’t have any time in Idaho.  We’ll have almost two months in Oklahoma.  The real appeal of the Reagan Amendment is that it can be the agenda around which the Amendment Convention organizes itself, later this year, perhaps in August at the Reagan Summit.  That won’t be done before Oklahoma adjourns, however.

The other reason to do Oklahoma next is because of Gary Banz’s close involvement with the Assembly of Legislators.  I don’t expect them to endorse the Reagan Amendment, by any means.  But we want to work cooperatively with them.

Alaska legislators have had money to burn for the last 35 years.  But the well is running dry, and they’re starting to cut their budget.  Just a little.  It’s just so darn hard.  If Alaska gets its land from the Reagan Amendment they can put it off for another twenty years or so.

It’s good to be an Alaskan.

Suzie Budge got me in to see Speaker Bedke, with Ways and Means Chairman Christy Perry and a couple other House members.  Earlier I’d run the Reagan Amendment by Sen. Marv Hagedorn, who will be at the Summit.  Bedke gets it.  He won’t be able to get to Seattle, so he assigned Christy to go on his behalf, just as he asked her to carry the BBA bill.  One of the House members turned out to be Majority Leader Mike Moyle.  He asked how many people I wanted at the meeting, and I said the more the merrier.  So he wants to go also.  They’ll get some Senators, in addition to Hagedorn.  I stressed the desirability of getting Sen. Davis to attend.

We won’t get action in the House this year.  Mike Ferris was in to see Bedke last Friday, and got him to agree not to bring anything to the floor this year.  He sold him a bill of goods, convincing him that next year he will generate so much grass roots support in Idaho that CoS, as well as the BBA, will sail through.

We weren’t going to get by Davis in the Senate anyway.  He killed the Delegate Limitation Act, with a lot of wild talk about a runaway.  He was heavily quoted in the papers, and has got himself way out on a limb.  We don’t want to saw that limb off.  We want him to climb back down, which will happen if he goes to the Summit.  We won’t convince him that a runaway couldn’t happen.  We’ll prove that it won’t.

Bedke encouraged me to coordinate with incoming NCSL President Curt Bramble, the man who carried us through the Utah Senate.  I assured him that will be the case.  He also suggested working with the Assembly of States.  That hadn’t occurred to me.  It’s an excellent idea, and I will follow through.

I’m feeling more confident of getting the support from Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada, Arizona and even Montana.  That would be ten states.  If we get Senate Minority Leader Ted Ferrioli of Oregon, we’d be at eleven, and ready to invite the six western states, running from North Dakota down to Texas. that don’t have a lot of federal land.  I think we can get them all.  At seventeen you’re nine short, but within sight of a majority.  I’ll bet Joe Harrison of Louisiana, Bill Cowsert of Georgia, Dennis Powers of Tennessee, and Larry Grooms of South Carolina can get us most of the South.  Add West Virginia and Kentucky and you control the Amendment Convention.  All are welcome to the Reagan Caucus.  We want more than 26.  I’d like 34.  38 would be better.

The Reagan Amendment is a good idea.  Good ideas are a dime a dozen.  Turning an idea into reality takes a lot of work.  More than I’m personally capable of.  Knowing I have the legislative leaders of Alaska, Washington and Idaho as part of the team means I’ve got help from some very capable people.  More help is coming, as we expand the circle.  I’m free for the next two months, so we’ve got time.

Chisty Perry is a very attractive woman.  Not that many of those in politics.  She reminds me of Alaska State Senator Jan Faiks.  We were both conservative Republicans, elected from the same two member district in 1982.  I got gerrymandered out of my seat.  She reached an understanding with the Governor and kept hers.  But Jan violated one of Clint Eastwood’s Rules of Life: a man’s got to know his limitations.   Power went to her head.  She used her looks, and her sex,  to get elected Senate President, and her sense of entitlement brought her down.  We successfully primaried her, and now she’s a lobbyist in D.C. working, I believe, for the coal industry. I could never bring myself to personally dislike Jan.  She just got in over her head.  She’s going to like the Reagan Amendment.

I’m having fun.  It’s good to be alive.

Pam Roach was just what I expected.  We had a great meeting.  She gets the Reagan Amendment.  She’ll get it a lot more when she’s had time to think about it.  She’s very proud of her family.  Her 17th grandchild is due soon.  She said that’s just what Mormons like her do.  She got out her cell phone to show me a picture of her daughter-in-law, a 125 pound Olympic weight lifter.  She cleans and jerks 250 pounds, twice her weight, which is some kind of record.   Pam and I got along just fine.

The Capitol in Olympia is one of the best I’ve seen.  It’s uncluttered.  A lot of Capitols ruin their internal décor by hanging a bunch of pictures of dead politicians all over the place.  And some of the statuary I’ve seen is atrocious. Not so in Olympia  Everything in good taste..

Now it’s on to Boise, in quest of a third state.  If we don’t get to 34 this year, it’s not all bad. More time to line up support for the Reagan Amendment.  I don’t know if I’ll be able to turn Senator Davis.  To tell you the truth it doesn’t matter all that much.  We’ll get Idaho next year.  But 30 sounds so much better than 29.

Rep. Jim Kasper will getting an award at the Reagan Amendment Summit.  North Dakota, today, is #27.  Passed the Senate 29-17.  We always thought North Dakota wouldn’t be that tough.  But a win is a win.  It puts everybody in a good mood.

Co-founder Darren is starting his own business in Bozeman on May 1st.  He’s got a million things to do to open the doors, but he’s all jacked up about the Reagan Amendment, so he’s moonlighting on the web site.  I can’t wait to see it.  I’m like a kid at Christmas.  He thinks we’ll be able to raise some money on it.  The man’s a marketing whiz, so maybe he’s right.

I really didn’t know what to expect with Pam today.  When I talked to her last summer I could tell she was a character.  But the Reagan Amendment is a real departure from conventional thinking, and I was worried she might think I was some kind of nut.  Not a problem.  She didn’t blink an eye.  That was the best thing about the whole meeting.  She says she’ll be at the Reagan Amendment Summit, as long as it doesn’t interfere with her foreign travel.  I guess she’s a globe trotter.

Pam is a leader.  I could tell.  And she’s a pro.  And a solid Reaganite.  She can be a major asset going forward.  Plus she’ll be fun to be around.

I’s nice working with people it’s fun to be around.  Rep. Dick Schultz from Tok was a funny guy. Great sense of humor.  We played a lot of handball together.  He was an athlete, a big guy, from Nebraska.  He was recruited by Alabama as a running back.  He told me a story about winning the big game in high school and coming home, cock of the walk, and more or less demanding the keys to the family car.  He said his dad got up and flattened him with one punch.  He said he went up to his room and cried.

Dick loved his dad.

I first heard about it in high school.  Back then the birth rate of black Americans was very high, and had been a long time. If you projected a continuation of black versus white birth rates, blacks were going to be a majority in this country some time in the 21st century.  A lot of people back then believed it.

Now the Republicans are doomed because whites are becoming a minority.  Good God, how stupid can people be?  They look at the present, and the recent past, and figure they know the future?  Fools.

There are such things as political realignments.  The New Deal produced one, a big one, that lasted a couple generations.  I’m becoming convinced that the political flood tide which began with the rollout of Obamacare may result in a political realignment to rival it.

If it happens I will live to see it.  Thank you, Jesus.

Article V is perfectly proportioned.  It’s the Dolly Parton of the Constitution.

Up to now we’ve been focused on 34.  That’s where our focus will remain, but I think it’s time to look past 34, to 26 and 38.  Moving on up, so to speak.  For the first time since I got involved, eighteen months ago, I think the odds of 34 are in our favor.  Getting 26 of 50, to organize and control the Amendment Convention, shouldn’t be that tough, as long as people don’t let their egos and personal ambition get in the way.  There are 31 red states, with solid red legislatures, which share an interest in saving our country through the rapid economic growth which would result from the Reagan Amendment.

Some of the 31, like Virginia, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin are purplish, it’s true.  But the real key to 38 are the seven actual purple states, with legislatures half red, half blue.  Of these, I think New Mexico, Colorado, and Kentucky would easily ratify the Reagan Amendment, getting us to 34.  The deciding states will be Maine, Iowa, Minnesota, and Washington.  These are the states the Amendment Convention must be cognizant of as it fashions the actual amendment.  There are other possible targets, of course.  Delaware, perhaps, and definitely Oregon, where 52.6% of the state is owned by the federal government.

We should get Washington, where 28.5% of the land is federal.  So we’re down to Maine, Iowa, and Minnesota.  Down on its luck Maine would, like every state in the Union, benefit economically from the Reagan Amendment.  Maybe that would be enough.  Maine’s legislature flips back and forth between red and blue, and its Governor is a right wing Ross Perot type.  We should get Maine.  Iowa just elected Joni Ernst, striking terror in the hearts of hogs across the country.  This is a seriously conservative woman.  They’ve had a Republican Governor for umpteen years.  We ‘ll get Iowa.

So it all boils down to Minnesota, where my mother’s family hails from.  Bemidji, up north, to be precise.  Harriet Brennan Achenbach was her maiden name.  Minnesota was settled almost exclusively by northern Europeans  — Germans and Scandinavians.  Prairie Home Companion, and all that, where all the kids are above average.  They’re good people, but they do have a socialist streak in them.  But I think that’s fading.  Socialism doesn’t mesh well with diversity, and I think they’re figuring it out.  The Twin Cities have a lot of population, but most of Minnesota is farm country.  Yeah, we’ll get Minnesota.

I learned a valuable lesson in Minnesota  — don’t trust strangers.  We were staying in Wilton, about ten miles north of Bemidji on Highway 11.  We went to the County Fair in Bemidji, and a guy offered me ten dollars if I’d pass out flyers all afternoon.  My family was heading back to Wilton, but they let me stay to earn the money, since I could hitchhike back.  I busted my ass for hours passing out flyers, and when it was time to get paid the guy gave me a pen set he said was worth ten dollars.  My ass.  A quarter at best.  I’d been cheated, but there was nothing I could do about it.  I really wanted that ten dollars.  It would have doubled my entire wealth.

That was in 1954.  I was nine.  I’ve tried, ever since, not to be taken advantage of.

It still pisses me off.