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JOEY KENNEDY: The calendar says it's way past time for Alabama to have a new constitution
The Birmingham News
November 29, 2010
It's hard to find any reasonable person who'll make a serious defense of Alabama's decrepit constitution. It's the longest in the world, has been amended more than 800 times, centers most all the power in the state in special-interest-controlled Montgomery, hamstrings local governments and is, well, just plain ol' mean.
What's hard to figure out is why it hasn't been kicked to the curb for a better one long before now. Attempts have been made through the years. Yet, we're still stuck with a 110-year-old document that fails in almost every sense. Greater Birmingham Ministries has produced a 2011 calendar pointing out some of the constitution's many flaws to raise public awareness. They're pretty cool. Get one here.
For years, lawmakers have claimed they want to rewrite the Alabama constitution, but not through a citizens convention. Oh, they trust voters to elect them, but not to rewrite the state's charter. No, lawmakers say they'll rewrite the constitution in the Legislature. Then they never do.
There's been a real change in Montgomery this election -- at least in control of the Legislature. We have yet to see if that change in control translates into a change in priorities. We'll get a hint soon when the Republican-controlled Legislature goes into special session on ethics reform. Will there be real ethics reform or pretend ethics reform?
We're also anxious to see how the Republican Legislature handles constitution reform. Republicans are among those who fought a citizens convention hardest in the past. They want a new constitution by legislative rewrite, they say. Well, OK: Let's see it. Anything these Republicans want to do, they can do. They have a supermajority in the House and a filibuster-proof advantage in the Senate. It's all on them now.
We know the Republicans can talk, but can they walk? Even better, can they talk and walk at the same time, or will they trip over their words of the past?