Opinion
January 13, 2002
Gov. Don Siegelman may well be doing the
right thing for the wrong reasons in calling for a constitutional
convention vote this November, but at least it’s the right thing.
The Register editorial board welcomes his apparent decision
to provide some leadership on this most critical issue for Alabama.
Calling on the Legislature to put a call for a constitutional convention
on the ballot this fall and tying the initiative to an attack on “special
interests” are politically risky moves in an election year.
The political risks likely explain why most legislators
are less than enthusiastic about the idea.
The editorial board agrees that a rewrite of the constitution
must be driven by ordinary Alabama citizens, not by special interests
and definitely not by legislators. And the process of getting voter
approval for a convention, selecting the delegates, letting them do
their work and voting on the results will be lengthy. The sooner we
get started, the better.
Both Lt. Gov. Steve Windom, a Republican candidate, and
incumbent Democrat Gov. Siegelman have come out in favor of a convention
in the last week, though with varying degrees of specificity and timelines.
If only other legislators could bring themselves to lend bipartisan
support, real progress could be made toward letting the people have
their say.
Having applauded Gov. Siegelman’s action, the board
nonetheless must look askance at his motivations.
The Associated Press helpfully compiled some of the governor’s
comments on constitutional reform during the last two years, and those
comments show a speedy evolution of his position.
Only last year, questioned after his third State of the
State speech as to why he hadn’t mentioned the constitu tion,
Gov. Siegelman said this:
“I do applaud those people who want to spend their
time talking about constitutional reform, but I’m going to stay
focused on those things I know I can get done that will benefit the
people of Alabama.”
Tuesday night, in the governor’s fourth State of
the State address to the Legislature, he said this:
“I will fight to reform our constitution, take power
away from the special interests, and give it back to the people. The
people and I will fight because we are right, and the special interests
are wrong.”
Sounds like a populist re-election campaign theme to
us.
Also, though the governor was quick to start an “us
vs. them” battle against special interests, neither he nor several
other candidates for governor would say exactly who “them”
is. We would suggest that’s because whoever “them”
is, they will be making some sizable campaign contributions in the
coming months.
The details of Gov. Siegelman’s convention call,
which have not been released, must be carefully studied both by legislators
and supporters of constitutional reform, as must the proposals made
by Lt. Gov. Windom. The editorial board does, however, adamantly oppose
any attempt by the Legislature to do its own article-by-article rewrite.
Whatever his reasons, Gov. Siegelman was absolutely right
when he said, “Our constitution keeps the special interests in
charge. Our constitution perpetuates a system where every step forward
means a fight, where every bold dream is dismissed as wishful thinking.”
The state must move forward — on the constitution
and many other issues. If there must be a fight, then let’s get
on with it.
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