By Joey Kennedy
The Birmingham News

   A few weeks ago, I ran smack-dab into one of the great hurdles to constitution reform.

   I was at a dinner party at a friend's house, surrounded mostly by like-minded folks. We began discussing the need for a new constitution in Alabama, and one guest (a lawyer and former candidate for public office) declared she was against home rule, which to me is a major reason to rewrite the constitution in the first place. To her, it is better for a central power, be it in Montgomery or even Washington, to have control because, my friend reminded me, we haven't always done right by our people.

Horrible record

   In fact, we do have an absolutely abysmal record in doing right by our people - which is all the more reason for home rule. My friend - a lawyer, remember? - believes giving "home rule" to local governments might mean a return to the days of poll taxes and literacy tests for voters, where poor whites and all blacks were kept from the ballot box.

   My friend - a lawyer, remember? - doesn't understand the concept of "home rule"; and she apparently doesn't know that it's the state constitution we live under now - the one that doesn't allow home rule - that disfranchised poor whites and all black voters until the federal government finally stepped in.

   Of course, I just about blew a gasket, and my friend admitted that she hadn't really been keeping up with the constitution debate. This week, I sent her a reprint of our constitution series, which she had missed when it was published in the newspaper a few weeks ago.

   But if the people who already should be in the know, especially those who care about public service and who make their living with the law, don't fully understand why we need a new constitution, how are the great majority of Alabamians supposed to be convinced? They will, after all, eventually vote on a new constitution if one is ever written.

   Certainly what will help are public forums like the one put on this week by Vestavia Voters with Vision and Alabama Citizens for Constitutional Reform. More than 225 people filled the auditorium at Vestavia Hills High School to hear why we need a new constitution.

   The panel featured historian Dr. Leah Rawls Atkins, Marshall County District Judge Howard Hawk (a former state representative who chaired the House Ways and Means-Education Committee), Cumberland law professor Howard Walthall and Samford University President Dr. Thomas Corts, chairman of Alabama Citizens for Constitutional Reform.

   Hawk, as a former legislator, got the most questions and, as usual, he fielded them head on. Hawk doesn't dodge controversy, and his candor no doubt is one reason Gov. Don Siegelman appointed him to the bench late last year. Getting Hawk out of the Legislature is one less thorn of conscience Siegelman has to worry about, and there aren't many in Montgomery to begin with.

  But it doesn't look like Hawk is going to cease being a presence, and that's good for all of us. He recently joined the board of Alabama Citizens for Constitutional Reform. As for the failure of Siegelman's special session, Hawk puts the blame squarely on the constitution.

   "It's just another walking example," Hawk said a few hours before the Vestavia Hills forum. "We wouldn't have the tax structure we have if we had a different constitution. Certainly, the Legislature would have had more flexibility on how it can spend money. That special session is the poster child for constitution reform."

The reality

   Don't expect much to happen before next year's legislative and gubernatorial elections, Hawk warns. "Between now and the next election, the most that can be done is continuing to raise awareness."

   Hawk believes some politician at some point will latch on to a new constitution as a winning issue. "I think the people demand more than just telling them what those in government think they would like to hear," he says, "and somebody is going to be rewarded for that."

   For now, we need groups like V3 in Vestavia Hills and elsewhere to sponsor more public forums on constitutional reform. Sure, this is something the governor should be doing all over the state, but until Siegelman catches up or gets kicked out, it's the people's campaign.

   I'll keep working on my friends; you work on yours.

Joey Kennedy, winner of the Pulitzer Prize, is an editorial writer and editor of the "Columns" page for The News. His e-mail address is jkennedy@bhamnews.com.

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