Persistence pays off

By Jennifer J. Foster

I got an e-mail from regular reader Don S. the other day. Don is a longtime, passionate advocate of the initiative and referendum process—I&R, for short—and how it can be implemented as a check and balance on the legislative branch when elected officials are not responsive to the needs of their constituents.

Don had some news to share: After peppering the gubernatorial candidates for their views on I&R, Don has made some positive progress with one Republican candidate.

Several months ago I contacted (GOP candidate Bill) Johnson by e-mail and asked him if he would support the issue of making Alabama the 25th state to have an Initiative and Referendum (I&R) process voters could utilize (when necessary because of the legislature’s continued failure to pass REAL reform and accountability legislation) to introduce such legislation that could bypass both the legislature and the governor and be put on a ballot for voters to accept or reject. I asked him if he would make it one of his campaign issues, and if elected, do all within his power to get I&R legislation passed by the legislature.

I’ve contacted all other gubernatorial candidates and asked them essentially the same thing.

Only two candidates have responded thus far. Robert Bentley sent a negative response and (Republican candidate) Bill Johnson, today, sent me an e-mail saying:

Hi Don,

Just to let you know that I&R is added as an issue to our campaign.  You can find it at the bottom of our issues page here:

http://billjohnson.org/Issues.aspx

Thanks for all the great background info, if there is some way we can say it better on that page, please let me know.

Bill J.“

Indeed, Johnson’s campaign web site includes this blurb on I&R under its “Issues” listing:

Initiative and Referendum

I fully support the ability of citizens to enact legislation directly through Initiative and Referendum process as a way to make government more responsive, stimulate citizen participation in our legislative process and reverse the concentration of government power.  I support HB279 that was proposed in the last legislative session and sponsored by Representatives Ball, Canfield, Love, Hubbard, Mask, Clouse, Hammon, Ward, DeMarco, McCutcheon, Todd, Hinshaw, Sanderford, Oden, Hill, Treadaway and Gipson.

Johnson’s site then links to the 2009 bill.

Note how Johnson characterizes the I&R process: “A way to ... reverse the concentration of government power.“ I think that’s a thoughtful reflection on what I&R is and what it does.

Congratulations to Don for a job well done. As I told him in an e-mail, persistence pays off.

If you happen to see or hear other gubernatorial candidates in forums or on the radio in your area, perhaps you’d like to ask them for their thoughts on I&R—or, on another note, for their thoughts on constitutional reform, which also has the potential to reverse the concentration of government power in Montgomery.

Let us know what they say.

See also:

If you need an explanation on I&R, head on over to Don’s site; he’ll do a great job of filling you in.

Bill Johnson is confusing

By Jennifer J. Foster

Folks, help me out with this:

The Montgomery Advertiser reported today that Republican gubernatorial candidate Bill Johnson “is going after his former boss again—this time on ethics.

Johnson, a Republican who was in the administration of Gov. Bob Riley and worked on his campaigns, criticized Riley’s ethics reform package as weak.

“Accountability and ethics reform are certainly needed. My problem with the proposed reform is that it isn’t true reform,“ Johnson said in a release.

I went to Johnson’s web site to look for the release. Couldn’t find it. But guess what I found instead?

This, under “Issues”:

One of the challenges facing Alabama and darkening our image is the steady string of indictments and convictions of public officials.  These ethical misconducts not only impact our image globally, but also degrade our own citizens’ confidence in government.

I support the comprehensive package of ethics reforms that Governor Riley has proposed relative to gifts by lobbyists, disclosure requirements and campaign finance reporting regulations.

I’m confused. Does Johnson support a package that “isn’t true reform”? Or is he confused about what he’s supporting?

We’re waiting ...

By Jennifer J. Foster

Check out The World Around You for a great post from my friend Kris. He is waiting for one coherent, intelligible argument against constitutional reform in Alabama.

By coherent and intelligible, he means something that isn’t predicated on: A) Fear about the people who support the movement, and/or B) Fear about what those people might produce, and/or C) Fear that the people of Alabama are either too dumb or too weak to defeat any proposed constitution that doesn’t have the people at its core.

Kris is waiting for that argument.

Incidentally, so am I.

I discussed constitutional reform in this space yesterday. Artur Davis is leading the way on this issue and has thrown down a meaningful gauntlet—as opposed to some of the other gauntlets that have been thrown lately—to his rivals. It isn’t enough anymore for them to simplisticly say they oppose reform. If those candidates want our votes, they need to explain to us, in clear and unambiguous terms, why they think we’re trustworthy enough to elect a governor—and even to elect them as governor—but yet we are somehow incapable and untrustworthy of the duties that reform would entail.

Hey, Robert Bentley, Bradley Byrne, Bill Johnson, Kay Ivey, Tim James, Roy Moore and Ron Sparks:

We’re waiting.

Artur Davis gets it right—again

By Jennifer J. Foster

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Artur Davis was in Huntsville today to highlight Alabama’s need for a new constitution and how he would, as governor, advance efforts to enact one.

Davis went through the argument, but here’s the takeaway:

It is a fact that the other candidates in this race are all opposed to a constitutional convention.  I would expect the opponents of constitutional reform to trot out the same tired arguments about why we should fear constitutional reform. But what they really mean is that they don’t trust the voters and they’re not prepared to defend the status quo in the light of day that a constitutional convention would provide.

Read that again: Opponents of constitutional reform don’t trust the voters, and they’re not prepared to defend the status quo in the light of day that a constitutional convention would provide.

Dead on, Artur Davis. That is exactly right.

This is not a partisan issue. This is a state issue. This is a moral issue. This is an issue that affects everyone who lives and/or works in Alabama.

Reform isn’t a luxury. It is an imperative.

Here’s hoping that by focusing the media spotlight afforded by his campaign on the need for reform, Artur Davis is able to pressure the other gubernatorial candidates, Democratic and Republican, to get where they need to be for all of Alabama.

If you’re not yet convinced of the need for a new state constitution, check out the comprehensive, irrefutable case made by Alabamians for Constitutional Reform.

I’m behind this effort. I hope you are, too.

See also:

The press release about today’s event from the Davis campaign.

This week’s column

By Jennifer J. Foster

In case you missed it in Saturday’s edition of the Opelika-Auburn News or if you live outside the print delivery area, my most recent column is now on the web. Check it out:

Ivey’s attack on Davis goes beyond puzzling

The column is getting a lot of good feedback from folks in the blogosphere. I don’t consider that a reflection of my work so much as a crystal-clear indication of how fed up with partisan politics people are. It’s actually amazing to me that candidates continue to operate in that partisan vacuum.

I do a lot of research when writing my columns, and this week was no exception. In light of the content this week, thought it particularly relevant to share some of these links with you:

Details of the Taxpayer Protection Pledge, from Artur Davis’s campaign site.

The news release from Davis’s camp on the Taxpayer Protection Pledge.

A blog post at Left in Alabama regarding the Taxpayer Protection Pledge.

Kay Ivey’s response to Davis in its entirety from Ivey’s web site.

A blog post from The Montgomery Advertiser detailing Ivey’s response to Davis’s agreement with her.

Ivey’s plan for transparency and accountability measures on legislators’ pork projects as she detailed it a few weeks ago.

A blog post at Doc’s Political Parlor regarding Bradley Byrne’s AEA money pledge.

A news report of candidates’ reaction to Byrne’s AEA grandstanding.