Month: June 2024

There are three things that large majorities of Alaskans, and Americans, right, left and center, can agree on. One is the need to stop the reckless deficit spending, and the ballooning national debt, which are causing inflation. Another is the need to impose term limits on members of Congress. The third is reform of a campaign finance system which corrupts Congress and gives incumbents an enormous advantage as they seek reelection.

None of these reforms will ever get through Congress. All will require the use of Article V to amend the Constitution. Short of revolution, it’s the only way any of them can happen.

First up will be fiscal reform. The need is urgent, and there may already be enough valid Article V resolutions on this subject to force Congress to call the first Article V Convention of States. When that Convention takes place, legislative leaders from all 50 states, Republican and Democrat, will be charged with crafting a solution which is satisfactory to a large supermajority of the country. Friendships will naturally form, relationships will be established.  When they have finished their business, it will only be natural for them to ask themselves,, “Is there anything else we can agree on?”

Term limits for Congress is a no brainer. Large, bipartisan majorities of voters want it, and opening up Congress to new blood will give some of these state legislators an opportunity to advance their own careers. Delegates to the Convention will be the leaders of their respective state legislatures and can agree among themselves that they will go home and pass the needed Article V resolutions for a 2nd Convention of States, to propose a term limits amendment.

Once that’s done, campaign finance reform should be the next item on the Article V agenda. Among the delegates to the 1787 Convention there was great distrust of the state legislatures, where hostility to a new federal Constitution was rampant. Madison, in particular, didn’t want to give these legislatures control over congressional elections. He feared that they would use that power to somehow hamstring the new Congress. So, in Article I, Sec. 4, he inserted a provision giving Congress the power to regulate the “Times, Places, and Manner” of its own elections.

This may have made sense at the time, but in modern practice it has turned out to be a serious problem. Congress has constructed campaign finance laws so that challengers to incumbent Congressmen are at a huge disadvantage. The easy and practical way to solve this problem is to amend Article I, Sec. 4 to give each state the authority to control its own campaign finance law. The state legislatures would control congressional campaign finance and can impose a new campaign finance regime which would result in a more level playing field and reduce endemic corruption. Each state will have its own law. Citizen initiatives could be used to institute campaign finance restrictions which legislatures refuse to pass. The laws of Alaska will be quite different from the laws of New York, which is fine. It’s called federalism, and it works. Delegates to a 3rd Convention of States, dealing with campaign finance, would be empowering themselves, at the expense of Congress. From their perspective, what’s not to like?

At this point such talk is mere speculation.  But what is beyond doubt is that the first use of Article V in almost 240 years will begin a process of reviving federalism, a bedrock constitutional principle which has eroded over time, as the federal government has amassed more and more power, at the expense of the states.  It would be a concrete demonstration of the fact that, ultimately, the states, acting collectively, can control the federal government.

When state legislators pass Article V resolutions, they are attempting to return political power to their states, and themselves, at the expense of Congress and the federal government. Returning power to the states, and the people, from a bloated and dysfunctional federal government is good policy, and good politics. It’s an idea whose time has come.  If and when it happens, it would be historic, a watershed, 

In 1988 Rep. Fritz Pettyjohn introduced HJR 54, an Article V resolution calling for the limitation of congressional terms.  He blogs at ReaganProject.com.

(This originally appeared in Must Read Alaska)

The replacement, or supersession, of the Articles of Confederation by the Constitution was done in an orderly and lawful manner. The delegates to the Annapolis Convention of 1786 requested that the Confederation Congress call a Constitutional Convention in May of 1787, to be held in Philadelphia. The Congress acceded to the request and called the convention.

On September 17, 1787, after finishing drafting the proposed Constitution, the Convention unanimously adopted a Resolution calling for it to be submitted to the Confederation Congress, and recommended that that Congress, in turn, submit the proposal to state conventions for their assent and ratification. The Convention of 1787 did not believe it had the standing to submit their proposal to the states for their consideration. Only Congress had that authority.

Likewise, a Convention of States, called by the Congress pursuant to Article V, would lack the authority to submit their proposal to the States. Only Congress has that power, and the power to determine the method of ratification. To argue the contrary is to ignore clear historical precedent.

The Confederation Congress chose to follow the recommendations of the Convention. It was not obligated to do so.

So if a Convention of States, called pursuant to Article V, were to ignore limitations on its authority, as stated in the call of the Convention, Congress would have the power to refuse to submit it to the states for ratification.

Congress has the power to prevent the dreaded “runaway”.

Read “Hillbilly Elegy”, or see the movie, and you’ll see his appeal to Trump as his Vice President.

Now we’ve got to educate him about Article V. There are ways.

(originally published in Must Read Alaska

Our growing national debt is beginning to impact every American. The inflation caused by federal overspending is hurting us all. The interest on the debt is crowding out other national priorities. Economists of all political persuasions agree that this level of deficit spending cannot be sustained. Neither Trump nor Biden offer a solution. The problem is in Congress, where neither Republicans nor Democrats are capable of reducing spending. Congress is a broken institution, corrupt and dysfunctional. What can be done?

The Alaska legislature has responded to this situation by passing Article V resolutions calling for a Convention of States to propose a constitutional amendment to control federal spending. The first passed in 1982, as the national debt first surpassed $1 trillion. Another, modified, version passed in 2014, with the support of none other than then-Senator Mike Dunleavy. Back then the debt was $17 trillion. It has doubled since, to $34 trillion. It is now rising by a trillion dollars every 100 days.

Article V is the remedy the Framers of the Constitution gave to the states to control Congress. There is no other solution to congressional deficit spending available. Article V instructs Congress to issue a call for a Convention of States once it receives valid resolutions from 34 states, a threshold which has arguably already been reached.

The principal argument against the use of Article V is the fear of a runaway convention. The convention of 1787 was called by the Confederation Congress to propose amendments to the Articles of Confederation. Instead, it proposed an entirely new Constitution. What’s to stop another Convention of States from doing the same thing?

Congress itself has the power to prevent that from happening. It can simply declare that the Convention exceeded its authority and refuse to refer the Convention’s proposal to the states for ratification. The Confederation Congress of 1787 could have done exactly that. It could have rejected the proposed Constitution and refused to refer it to the states for ratification. It chose not to do so.

Under Article V, a Convention of States has legal authority only when it is called by Congress. Any amendment proposed by a Convention can only be ratified when it is referred to the states by Congress. The United States Congress can prevent a runaway convention.

I believe the day will soon come when Congress reluctantly acknowledges that it has received 34 valid Article V Resolutions calling for fiscal reform, and that it has no choice but to call for a Convention of States. That Convention will be charged with finding a solution.

When that Convention meets, it must necessarily proceed in a bipartisan manner. Unless the amendment it proposes is ratified, the Convention will be a failure. In order to be ratified, an amendment needs a 3/4 supermajority of the states to approve. In practice, no constitutional amendment has ever been ratified without broad, bipartisan support.

The delegates to any Article V Convention will be selected by each state legislature. It will be a high honor, which will only be given to legislators with talent and experience. All of these men and women will have assembled supermajorities in their own legislature. It’s not easy. To get a 3/4 supermajority is extremely difficult. But it can be done, if the matter is urgent, and the stakes high. Republicans and Democrats will have no choice but to cooperate. The amendment they agree to propose will be one which can and will be ratified.

Article V offers the states a lifeline, to be used when all else fails. I believe it will happen, eventually, because there is no real alternative. Time is running out.

When I got to Alaska in 1969 the smell of money was in the air.  Prudhoe Bay’s oil had just been discovered.  People didn’t know how big it was, but everyone thought it would be big, really big.  A poor Democratic state was going to get rich, and Republican, and I wanted to be part of it.

By the time I hung out a shingle and started my law practice in 1974 the boom was on.  In the blink of an eye my wife and I had three kids and I got started in politics.  In 1978 I worked on the reelection campaign of Gov. Jay Hammond, and his victory assured the future of the Permanent Fund. 

Hammond, a Republican, wanted some of the oil money in the Fund to go directly to he people, but most of the Democrats in Juneau were opposed.  He strong armed the legislature into approving a dividend, and the first $1,000 checks went out in 1982.  Democrats didn’t like the dividend then, and they still don’t.  They are the party of , by, and for government.  They want the government to spend the money, not the people.

Most Alaskans like their PFD’s, and that’s one reason 2024 is going to be a good year for Republicans.  There are others.  This is a Presidential year, and voter turnout could be 100,000 higher than in 2022.  Among those Alaskans who only turn out in presidential years are a whole lot of people who know that Republican Presidents are good for Alaska’s economy, and Democrats are not.

Alaska’s economy is stagnant, and people think the boom times of 50 years ago are just a memory.  We’ll never see them again.

Or will we ?

Regardless of what you may think of him as a human being, Donald Trump would be good for Alaska.  Trump doesn’t believe in distributing wealth, he believes in creating it.  He doesn’t want energy independence, he wants energy dominance.  That means full speed ahead on development of Alaska’s vast natural resource wealth.  If Trump wins, and gets his way, Alaska’s economy, and its people, could get rich again.  There’s talk of Gov. Mike Dunleavy as Trump’s Secretary of the Interior, and that would be icing on the cake.  This just might be a very good time to invest in Alaska real estate.

One of the first things I learned about politics is that people vote in their own self interest.  What’s good for me, and my family?  This year, more than any other, in Alaska that means voting Republican.

So to all the Republicans running this year I have a little advice.  Campaign with Trump, as a solid Republican, with the hope, and expectation, of boom times ahead.

Let the good times roll.