NCGA Considering Petition To Amend U.S. Constitution | Eastern North Carolina Now

    Publisher's note: The author of this post is Dan Way, who is an associate editor for the Carolina Journal, John Hood Publisher.

Activists call for convention of states to impose new constitutional limits

    RALEIGH     A proposal before the General Assembly would petition Congress to call a convention of states that would entertain constitutional amendments that, if enacted by the convention, would be sent to state legislatures for ratification.

    Under Article V of the U.S. Constitution, the legislative branches of two-thirds of the states - 34 all told - could request the convention and Congress would have to honor it. Once a convention came to order, any amendments sent forward would need the approval of three-fourths of the states, or 38 all told, to change the Constitution.

    State Rep. Gary Pendleton, R-Wake, is a primary sponsor of House Bill 321, the measure making a formal request for the convention.

    He spoke about his proposal at the Civitas Institute's Conservative Leadership Conference, held in late March in Cary. He mentioned a couple of items that might be on the agenda for a convention.

    "I do not believe there's any hope for this republic without term limits," he said. Lawmakers should be banned from becoming lobbyists for longer periods of time after leaving office, and forfeit their pensions if they become lobbyists.

    "It's a serious problem in the North Carolina General Assembly. You wouldn't believe how many people we have down there, and most of them are Republicans. But a few years back all of them were Democrats. There's a problem on both sides," Pendleton said. He said he is considering term limits legislation for North Carolina.

    Pendleton commented after witnessing a session at the conference from author Peter Schweizer, president of the Government Accountability Institute, and the William J. Casey Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University.

    Schweizer compared Washington, D.C., to "a modern-day Versailles" populated by elected officials who double as seasoned extortionists to enrich themselves.

    "The problem is - even among conservatives - when they go to Washington they see it's a cesspool, and they stay for a while, and then pretty soon it becomes a hot tub," said Schweizer.

    When considering the permanent political class, "We need to think less 'Mr. Smith Goes to Washington'. We need to think more 'The Godfather,' because ... yes, there is bribery" by special interests, "but far more troubling, and far more common, is a model of extortion" by lawmakers and regulators, Schweizer said.

    He cited examples from his most recent book, Extortion: How Politicians Extract Your Money, Buy Votes, And Line Their Own Pockets, and noted that Washington, D.C., has the nation's highest per capita income, while seven of the nation's 10 richest counties border it.

    Washington, D.C., is "an area where massive amounts of wealth are created, where living large is easy to do while the rest of the country suffers," akin to the extravagance of the monarchy and Marie Antoinette in the Palace of Versailles.

    "A lot of what happens in Washington is not about policy, it's not about ideology," Schweitzer said. "It's about making money and extorting people" by monetizing the act of governance in a shadowy world of convoluted legislation, cronyism, price lists, winks and nods, and outright demands for dollars.

    The corruption is so engrained, he said, that term limits are the only way to root out the political profiteering.

    Congress, he said, should be subjected to laws such as his home state of Florida and other state legislatures have enacted. They ban soliciting or receiving campaign contributions during legislative sessions to strip unscrupulous lawmakers of their lucrative leverage.

    A requirement that bills deal only with a single subject would eliminate the potential for unrelated riders being slipped into massive legislation, he said. He supports a bill by U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., to reduce the complexity of legislation by requiring congressmen to sign an affidavit saying they have read a bill before voted on it.

    One example Schweizer cited of congressional money-grubbing is "milker bills" that milk corporations for campaign contributions, donations to congressmen's leadership PACs, and lobbyist jobs for relatives.

    "So the purpose is not actually to change policy and affect policy" with milker bills. "The purpose is to scare the daylights out of people with deep pockets to pay me money to go away. The mafia, of course, calls this protection money," Schweizer said.

    Money that goes to leadership PACs can be used tax-free for limousine services, tickets to sports events, resort getaways, golf outings, vacations, meals, and numerous other perks, Schweizer said.

    "In the United States Senate right now, about one-third of all U.S. senators have an immediate family member that's a spouse, or a son or daughter, who is a registered lobbyist," he said. When Republican Dennis Hastert became Speaker of the House in 1998, his son was running a pizza parlor in Illinois. He moved to Washington, D.C., and overnight became the highest-paid lobbyist in Washington.

    "Both sides do this. This happens all the time," Schweizer said.

    One recent example of what Schweizer called a "double-milker bill" was the Stop Online Piracy Act of 2012. SOPA would have held high-tech companies liable if anyone - including those with no connection to the companies - pirated music or movies from the film, television, or music industries. President Obama "handled it masterfully" by pitting one side against the other in his 2012 re-election campaign, Schweizer said.

    Obama began his campaign at a Hollywood fundraiser, saying he was very concerned about piracy and was inclined to support SOPA. He then flew to a Microsoft fundraiser in Seattle with high-tech executives, and said he was still making up his mind. He enjoyed "a massive rise in fundraising" from both sides, Schweizer said.

    So-called toll booth legislation occurs when a bill passes committee votes, but the House speaker or Senate Majority Leader delays a floor vote until the leaders receive some financial benefit from the affected parties.

    Schweizer used an example from his book about a bill limiting local governments from adding taxes to cell phone bills.

    "No less than 88 executives from the cell phone industry on a single day had to write checks to [GOP House Speaker] John Boehner to get that piece of legislation even voted on the House floor," Schweizer said. "Both political parties do this, it's certainly not just John Boehner. [Former Democratic speaker] Nancy Pelosi was a master at this too."

    Regulators also have found ways to enrich themselves. Schweizer used the Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform bill as an example. Staff members for Democrats U.S. Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., and U.S. Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., who wrote the massively complicated bill quit their jobs when Dodd-Frank became law.

    "They opened up a consulting firm charging a $100,000 flat fee to explain to investment bankers what the law actually means," Schweizer said. "That would be like writing a bill in an ancient language like Sanskrit and saying if you want to have this translated you need to hire me to do it" or risk going to jail for violating it.

    "There's a price list if you want to be on an important committee," Schweizer said. The "party dues" fee rises for a chairmanship.

    It is illegal to solicit money from the floor of Congress. So lawmakers have been known to walk across the street, call a vested interest, and say, "I'm about to vote on this bill, and I really need your financial support," Schweizer said. "That's also extortion."

    Democrat U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters of California once threatened oil executives with nationalizing the industry because of high gas prices. Schweizer said the president of Shell Oil told him that Waters advised him, "We might understand your issues better if you would raise some money for us," Schweizer said. "Now was that extortion or what?"

    "I'm kind of pissed right now," one woman in the audience said at the conclusion of Schweizer's talk. "This makes me mad."

    "I knew it was bad, but I had no idea that it was that bad," said Gary Lyons of Raleigh, the North Carolina legislative liaison for the Convention of States Project, which is pushing for Pendleton's measure.

    "My blood boiled when I heard just how bad the problems are that we're facing in our country," he said. "We have to figure out a way to reduce the size, scope, and jurisdiction of the federal government."