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 Learning Legislative Lessons
by Tom Campbell
August 17, 2006
We come to neither praise Caesar (aka Jim Black) nor bury him. Rather than focus on the guilt or innocence of the House Speaker let us focus on fixing a system that allows and promotes abuses.
The problems can be traced back to 1977, when Gastonia’s Carl Stewart broke with tradition and was elected for an unprecedented second term as Speaker of the NC House. Previously, the Speaker served one term, then another member was elected to preside. Liston Ramsey recognized the opportunity and turned it into an eight-year domination over the House. It took Joe Mavretic banding together a handful of disillusioned Democrats and Republicans to finally break the stranglehold.
Jim Black trumped Ramsey in redefining power. The Speaker appoints committee chairs, decides what bills will get to a vote and which ones won’t, has a major say in which groups get money and how much, makes appointments to boards and commissions, and negotiates differences between the two houses of the legislature. This is one powerful position.
But Black figured out he could also determine who got elected to his House. Here’s the way it works. Because all the special interests want access and favor with the Speaker, they are most eager to contribute money to the special campaign fund Black controls that doles out money to candidates he favors.
The bottom line is that the Speaker shakes down lobbyists and special interests for big dollars, then he contributes either personally or through the Democratic Party to the candidates he wants elected. These candidates, recognizing who helped them win their seats, then come to Raleigh and vote for the Speaker to remain in office. The Speaker uses that power to control everything that happens or doesn’t in the House. It is a vicious and powerful cycle, almost begging abuse and corruption.
When too few people have too much power for too long it is almost certain bad things will happen. What can break this chain of events? First, there must be a limit to how long a Speaker (or President Pro Tem in the Senate) can remain in power. The rules of either house that would stipulate such a limit can be changed from one session to the next, so a constitutional amendment is needed to ensure leadership term limits. This amendment would require legislative action.
Next, we need to change the law that allows unlimited in-kind contributions from political parties to candidates. This would stop the massive flow of money coming at the direction of the Speaker and limit the Speaker’s ability to buy a House full of his or her friends. Legislators would no longer be co-opted into supporting the current power structure. Reducing the current ,000 per election contribution ceiling might also reduce the influence of big money.
Here’s the catch. All of this requires legislative reform and the recently adjourned session proved that our lawmakers don’t want to fix the system. The inmates obviously enjoy running the prison. The citizens of North Carolina must force the change and now is as good a time as any. |
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