Who Will The New Speaker Speak For?
Who Will The New Speaker Speak For?
It’s Time For The Candidates To Say.
Will the North Carolina House Democratic Caucus on January 10th select a new Speaker for a government of the people, by the people, and for the people? That would be nice – and maybe the time has finally come.
But, let’s face it, that has not been how the House has operated under Speaker Black.
Democrats control the House, Senate and the Governor’s office. The Party declares repeatedly that it is committed to democracy, transparency, and championing the people instead of special interests as among its core values, and yet, based on the recent record, apparently:
- no health care reform bill can pass that the health insurance industry opposes;
- no major environmental bill can pass that the utilities or the developers oppose;
- the large bank tax loophole can’t be closed because the banks are opposed to it;
- and, of course, the tax system can’t be made more progressive, and taxes can’t be raised regardless of the needs of education, state employees, or the poor since the business lobby will definitely be opposed to it.
In short, almost no bill passes that a well-heeled lobby is opposed to unless a better-heeled lobby is for it, and, conversely, almost any bill backed by a major wealthy special interest that is not opposed by another major special interest can fly through the legislature. A notorious example from last session was the quick passage of Duke Energy’s bill that allowed more air pollution from their proposed Cliffside coal plant.How does this happen? Games are played to get around democracy and transparency. In the House, the Speaker controls the games. Want to kill a popular bill in the public interest but opposed by powerful interests? Have the committee chair not bring it to a vote, or send in “floating” committee members with instructions to vote it down, or refer it to the Rules Committee with a pliable chair and bury it there, or several other ways. Want legislation to pass for a powerful interest that members would be embarrassed to vote for? Insert its provisions in the budget bill. Don’t like the results of a House vote? Add a new provision, never debated in the House or Senate, in a conference committee report – and hold that meeting in secret, with no notice.
The Speaker’s role in all this is pivotal. Not only is he (and there has never been a she) the traffic cop of the process, but he is the judge and the banker too. No bill will pass that the Speaker actively opposes. Of course, money flows to power, and the Speaker is one-stop shopping. Campaign money from wealthy special interests that goes to or through him gets things done and is used to elect the party faithful who then, out of gratitude, become the Speaker’s faithful. The Black scandals were not aberrations. They just pulled back the curtain on how campaign money - moved through the Speaker - buys legislation.
No single legislator invented this system. It is the polluted sea legislators must swim in, like it or not. But this campaign for Speaker, coming with a comfortable Democratic majority, can be that opportunity for change – IF – the Speaker candidates will commit themselves to real reforms, and once elected, follow through by leading the Democrats to reform House rules and pass serious reform legislation.
What is needed is clear. We endorse the reforms advocated by the North Carolina Coalition for Lobbying and Government Reform:
1. Budget & Appropriations: The budget and technical corrections bills are not the place to write or rewrite laws.
· Ban special provisions from the budget bill.
· Ban substantive material from the technical corrections bill.
· Require all appropriations of funds to be itemized.
· Provide a 3-day window between time the budget is referred to the floor and the floor vote.
2. Committees: Ensure that committee membership assignments and meetings are consistent and open.
· Eliminate changing the make-up of committees. All membership assignments should be final unless a member is unable to serve.
· Ban committee floaters and prohibit stacking committees with lawmakers who are not full-time committee members.
· Ban committee meetings from being held on chamber floor and instead hold meetings in a committee meeting room with public notice and public access provided.
3. Drafting of Bills: Bills without content should not be eligible for filing. Ban blank bills.
4. Leadership Term Limits: The Speaker of the House and President Pro Tempore of the Senate should have term limits.
Furthermore, we would add the following to the list for a reform Speaker to advocate:
5. (A modification of #4 above) The term of the Speaker should be two terms – after which he or she would have to step down for two terms before running again.
6. The House should adopt rules such that any bill may be brought forth for a vote in a committee upon a majority vote of that committee, and any bill having passed a committee vote, may be brought forth to the floor upon a majority vote of the House.
7. The Speaker should appoint no committee chairs who have a clear conflict of interest in terms of substantial investments, direct employment or employment of a spouse, which would put the committee chair in a position to handle bills that would materially affect his or her economic interests. In addition, the Speaker should rigorously require all members to recuse themselves from votes in which they have this kind of conflict of interest.
8. The Speaker should dedicate this coming session to completing the ethics and lobbying reform begun last session and to bringing forth and passage of voter-owned elections campaign finance reform, establishment of a non-partisan redistricting commission, and reducing the absurdly high signature requirements for other parties to win ballot status.
We can hear the objections from some Democratic legislators and consultants now: “Are you crazy? When you have the power, you use the power to make your majority permanent. That means attracting and using the big money, too much of which had gone to the Republicans on an ideological basis. That means controlling redistricting so that, instead of 10-15% of House seats being competitive, the threat of Republicans again winning a majority will be eliminated. Hey - Karl Rove understood power politics. We should too.”
That does bring the question into focus. Will the Democratic Caucus of the House elect a Speaker, establish House rules, and pass legislation in the interest of its own perceived political and institutional interest, or in accord with the core values of the Party and the interests of its citizens and their democracy. One thing for sure: If the Speaker leads for reform and the Party backs him, it can do wonders to win back the people from decades of disenchantment, cynicism, and disengagement from the political process and the Democratic Party. In fact, it would be of historic importance. Or the new Speaker can be another deal-making, power-grabbing politician of, by, and for the powers that be in Raleigh . Democrats can’t let the Speaker’s race be inside baseball. Way too much is at stake.
