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By Sallie Owen and Jeff Amy Capital Bureau March 22, 2002 MONTGOMERY — State lawmakers Thursday torpedoed plans for a constitutional convention, a proposal some say would fix the state’s chronic fiscal woes and failing public schools but others contend would lead to sky-high taxes and legalized gambling. The resolution called for a statewide vote in November on whether to hold a convention. House members, who are up for election this year, used a procedural bullet to effectively kill the measure. The voice vote means there is no record of how individual lawmakers voted. Support for an overhaul had been building in recent months, with three of the five major gubernatorial candidates pushing for a convention and polls showing state residents back the idea. But in the past couple of weeks an unlikely bipartisan coalition of the far right and far left of Alabama’s political landscape — including the House Black Caucus and the Alabama Farmers Federation — came out against the plan. Many lawmakers Thursday said that changes needed to be made to the 101-year-old constitution, but a total rewrite — which they fear would be dominated by special interests — isn’t the right method. The Legislature, they argued, could make changes on an article-by-article basis. House Minority Leader Mark Gaines, R-Homewood, said opposing a convention was not the same thing as opposing reform, though “it’s been couched that way by a bunch of Neanderthal editorial writers across the state.” Secretary of State Jim Bennett, a long-time supporter of constitutional reform, said voters have indicated they prefer a convention. “The Legislature has had 100 years to use the other method and has failed to do so,” said Bennett, who will work for the reform effort full time when he leaves office in January. “The people don’t trust the legislators to do this, and the legislators don’t trust the people to do this.” Gov. Don Siegelman, faced with an ongoing state money crunch, said he was disappointed with the House’s decision. “The fight for a new constitution is not over,” said Siegelman in a statement released Thursday. “In fact, it is just beginning. The people of Alabama can be trusted to come together in a convention to rewrite the constitution, and when they do, they will demand that the big corporations pitch in to help our schools.” The resolution’s sponsor — Rep. Marcel Black, D-Tuscumbia — moved to carry it over and effectively end discussion after opponents threatened to debate all afternoon and into the evening. He said it was unlikely he would bring the convention plan up again during the current legislative session — which has just six working days left. If lawmakers don’t act this session, the governor could call them back in a special session to address the convention question. The governor has not yet decided if he’ll call one, according spokesman Rip Andrews on Thursday. Alabama’s 1901 constitution has 708 amendments and runs to 315,000 words in length. Critics of the document say it denies power to county governments and favors special interests by centralizing power in Montgomery. Its restrictions require frequent amendments that often pertain only to one county or town. Reformers also note that the document was designed to deny the vote to blacks and poor whites and that it was ratified in a rigged election. The constitution’s defenders say reform is really an attempt to raise taxes and that a new document might delete references to God and protections of individual liberties, such as gun ownership. They also contend that an overhaul will lead to legalized gambling. The resolution, if approved by voters, called for a convention of 105 delegates elected from the state’s House districts, plus 12 members of the Legislature chosen by their colleagues. Delegates would have been elected June 3, 2003, to convene the following August. Rep. Walter Penry, R-Belforest, was the only lawmaker from southwest Alabama contacted by the Mobile Register who said he would have voted for the convention. “I didn’t have much feeling about it,” said Penry, adding that he had promised his constituents that he would support it. “It was probably a good resolution.” Rep. Steve McMillan, R-Orange Beach, spoke for many lawmakers when he said there was an inherent danger in a convention because there would be no checks and balances on delegates. Supporters of a convention have said that a statewide vote would be required to ratify any new document. Rep. Jim Barton, R-Mobile, said another big risk was the possibility of home rule, which would shift some decision-making power from Montgomery to individual cities and counties. “We were going to give entirely too much taxing authority to local entities,” he said, contending that the Legislature is the only body that can be trusted to keep taxes low. “I don’t know how you can put together a group of citizens who can rewrite a document we can operate from,” Barton said. Officially, the House Black Caucus opposes a convention because it is concerned about minority representation, although some members — including House Speaker Pro Tem Demetrius Newton, D-Birmingham — have defected. Caucus member James Buskey, D-Mobile, said he couldn’t get anyone to tell him the real reason to call a convention. “What do you and the governor want to do?” Buskey asked Marcel Black, the plan’s sponsor. “A constitutional convention sounds good, but I think this is a grand design to raise taxes on the people of Alabama.” He said that any reforms a convention produced could be done through the legislative process. “There’s nothing in the world they can do that we can’t do right here,” Buskey said. Rep. Jimmy Warren, D-Castleberry, said this was not the time to bring constitutional reform before the Legislature, in part because the reform effort lacked organization. “We need to rewrite the constitution, probably article by article, or let people vote to see what they want to do,” Warren said. No recorded votes were taken on the issue Thursday. Of the 17 representatives who went to the microphone to talk about the proposed convention, only seven supported it. When debate was suspended, 37 others were waiting for their turn to speak. House Speaker Seth Hammett, D-Andalusia, said he tried to balance the debate by alternating opponents and proponents, but “it was difficult to find people who would come to the microphone and speak for the convention.” “This is clearly a victory for the state of Alabama to preclude the unbridled raising of taxes, legalized gambling and unlimited home rule,” said John Giles, executive director of the Christian Coalition of Alabama, which opposed the resolution. Giles said his group lobbied the Legislature because the issue touches on two of the coalition’s tenets: easing the tax burden on families and stopping the expansion of legalized gambling. Bill Smith, a spokesman for Alabama Citizens for Constitutional Reform, said reform would remain a hot issue during the 2002 elections. He said that Thursday’s House action bolsters ACCR’s argument that the Legislature is incapable of making big decisions. When it comes to whether to rewrite Alabama’s Constitution, “We don’t think that’s a question 105 people should be deciding; that’s something 2.4 million people should be deciding.” Return to: Editorial Index |
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| Alabama Citizens for
Constitutional Reform Foundation, Inc. P.O. Box 34 Montgomery, Alabama 36101-0034 E-mail: accr@constitutionalreform.org |
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