Editorial
January 10, 2002
In his “State of the State”
address as the Alabama Legislature opened its 2002 regular session
Tuesday, Gov. Don Siegelman called on the lawmakers to approve a constitutional
convention and put it to a vote of the people in the November general
election.
He also previewed the “us-against-them” theme
that is likely to run through his bid for re-election this campaign
year.
While the governor has been on record in favor of rewriting
the state’s 101-year-old constitution since last March and in
support of a convention since October, Tuesday was the first time
he has set a timetable for the Legislature to pass legislation necessary
to set up a convention and to put that idea to a vote of the people.
He said he was doing so because the existing constitution,
which concentrates power in Montgomery with the Legislature in a post-Reconstruction
effort to disenfranchise blacks and poor whites, vests too much influence
with the special interests that control the legislators.
“It’s time we end the special interest domination
that has ruled our state and held us back for over a hundred years,”
a forceful Siegelman said in his 24? minute address to the Legislature.
“It’s time we throw them out and give the power back to
the people.”
The governor, however, was not very specific on the details
of his proposal. Such things as how many delegates would attend such
a convention, how they would be selected and whether they would be
asked to propose a new constitution as a whole, or article-by-article,
Siegelman did not say.
While his aides say details will be released in about
a week, this much is known about what the governor is proposing:
• Any bill calling
for a constitutional convention will itself be a proposed constitutional
amendment, which will have to be passed by simple majority votes in
the 105-member House and 35-member Senate.
• That proposed amendment,
which would spell out the makeup and mechanics of a convention, would
then have to be approved by a statewide referendum.
• Once the convention
meets and passes proposals, either for a new constitution in whole
or in part, those proposals will have to go back to the voters for
ratification before they would replace the existing constitution.
By calling for the Alabama Legislature to pass legislation
authorizing a constitutional convention this year and for a referendum
on the convention to coincide with the general election, Siegelman
has not only put the issue squarely at the top of the agenda in this
year’s gubernatorial race, but he also has insured that it will
be an issue in this year’s state House and Senate races.
That’s a good thing because if the incumbent Legislature
fails to pass convention-enabling legislation this year, its members
can be held accountable at the polls in November.
If the Legislature, which will adjourn its regular session
no later than late April, in plenty of time for the June party primaries,
does not act positively on Siegelman’s call for a constitutional
convention, the governor also will be able to include its members
with the “special interests” and “big corporations”
he says he is running against this year.
“There’s one thing I’ve learned over the
last three years,” he told the lawmakers Tuesday. “There
are forces in this state fighting us each and every day, every step
of the way – powerful forces, with powerful friends, fighting
to put their narrow special interests ahead of the people’s best
interest…
“I know where I stand,” he said. “The
question is, where will you stand? With the people or with the special
interests? With us or with them?”
Answers to such questions, regardless of whether you
agree with the way they are framed or even with their legitimacy,
may decide who will be our governor and who will comprise our Legislature
next year..
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