Constitutional Convention

The perennial discontent over property taxes and politicians' perennial resistance to assuaging taxpayers' concerns is spurring a push to have voters take responsibility for a solution. An Assembly committee is scheduled to consider today a constitutional convention to deal solely with the property-tax issue. "We're not going to do it ourselves," said Sen. John Adler (D., Camden). "Both parties are too skittish to do it. " If both houses of the legislature approved the measure and the governor signed it, voters would be asked in November whether they favored the constitutional convention.

The New Jersey General Assembly is scheduled to vote today on a controversial measure that would push the nation a step closer to its first constitutional convention since 1787. If the measure is approved by New Jersey's lower house, it will go to the state Senate, where final passage would leave the long national campaign for a constitutional convention one state shy of victory. New Jersey would become the 33d state to pass a legislative resolution under Article 5 of the U.S. Constitution, which permits a national constitutional convention if two-thirds of the state legislatures - now 34 - approve the resolution.

The push in Pennsylvania to hold a constitutional convention, a rare and drastic device for reforming state government, is premature. A state Senate committee has been gathering testimony around the state, including at a hearing in Philadelphia last week, on the possibility of holding a convention with as many as 150 citizen-delegates. These elected delegates would consider amending the state constitution to, for example, cut the size of the legislature, impose term limits on legislators, or to allow "initiative and referendum" ballot questions in Pennsylvania (much like Propositions A through Z for which California has become so notorious)

Earlier this fall, the New Jersey Assembly Government Committee, chaired by Assemblyman Richard A. Zimmer, held a public hearing on a measure that, if passed, would call for a federal constitutional convention for the purpose of enacting an amendment for a federally balanced budget. This measure will not enhance our nation's fiscal well-being. Indeed, it could damage our country's entire democratic structure. All of us are concerned that the federal deficit has grown out of all proportions.

Over the last two years, the actions of Pennsylvania's General Assembly, executive branch, and judiciary regarding pay raises and bonuses, to name just a couple of issues, have sparked a public outcry for the reform of state government. The type of institutional change being called for can be accomplished only by revising the Pennsylvania Constitution. There are two ways to change the constitution: an amendment by the General Assembly or a constitutional convention. When Abraham Lincoln spoke to the nation in his first inaugural address in 1861, he said of a pending amendment to the United States Constitution: "To me, the convention mode seems preferable to the amendment process in that it allows amendments to originate with the people themselves, instead of only persuading them to take or reject propositions originated by others not especially chosen with a purpose.

Miracle at Philadelphia," which tells the story of the creation of the Constitution, is something of a miracle itself. Instead of dreary glass cases filled with faded paper, this document exhibit exuberantly spills color, light and sound throughout the stately marbled halls of the Second Bank of the United States. From a free-floating sculpture of the flag (with stripes dramatically separated to symbolize the dis-union of the states) to fascinating pillars that display anti-Constitution broadsides and editorials, you are engulfed in the quarrelsome process that gave us a federal government.

With the long campaign for a national constitutional convention only two states shy of its goal, New Jersey has once again become a major historic battlefield. Those fighting the call for a constitutional convention came to New Jersey yesterday to urge the state to save the nation from what they say would surely be a runaway political affair, lobbied by special interests with awesome power. Cherished freedoms are at stake, several argued. Guns would be taken away, religious beliefs would be imposed and chaos would reign, leaving vital national interests vulnerable to extended legal wrangling at a time of rapid international change, the opponents argued.

At the University of Pennsylvania Law School, two state senators heard testimony yesterday on the convening of a constitutional convention for the reform of state government. State Sens. Jeffrey E. Piccola (R., Dauphin) and Michael Folmer (R., Lebanon) held the third hearing on the topic, listening to the views of three speakers: an area lawyer and author, a Rutgers University law school professor, and the president of the local League of Women Voters. Previous hearings were held in Harrisburg and Pittsburgh.

New Jersey has moved a step closer to holding a constitutional convention that could change the state's property-tax system. Gov. McGreevey signed a law yesterday to create a task force that will recommend how to convene the first such gathering in New Jersey in more than three decades. The convention could recommend amendments to the state constitution and statutes on property taxation, which could reduce New Jersey's reliance on property taxes to pay for education and other services.

HARRISBURG - From the presidential race on down, making government smaller is on the lips of most every candidate for public office. Against that background, Pennsylvania lawmakers on Monday began a historic debate on reducing their own ranks. The state House's consideration of a bill to trim the 203-member chamber by 50 seats marks the first time in 45 years that lawmakers have taken up such a proposal. The 50-member state Senate would not be affected. Because the legislation would amend the state constitution, it would have to be passed in two consecutive two-year sessions of the General Assembly and then approved by voters in a statewide referendum.

James Madison, our fourth president, is better known as the Father of the Constitution, a title that should be especially familiar to Philadelphians. In Signers' Hall at the National Constitution Center, a bronze Madison stands, all five feet of him, at the right hand of George Washington as he is about to sign the document. But Madison had another child that Americans know well, especially as the presidential election cycle swings toward the Iowa-New Hampshire madhouse: Madison was the Father of Politics.

A Washington councilman wants to take his city's fight for representation in Congress out on the Keystone State. Yo, buddy, bad idea. To draw attention to the cause of statehood for his city, Michael A. Brown wants to rename Pennsylvania Avenue. He suggests the catchy "Give DC Full Democracy & Statehood Way" or maybe just "51st State Way. " He's asking Washingtonians for other suggestions in an online poll. Aside from the slippery slope of renaming streets in the nation's capital to suit the special interests of the day, let's recall some reasons that Pennsylvania was given pride of place, a street linking the White House and the Capitol, when the city grid was designed in the 1800s.

I bring good news. Not just for Republicans feeling mighty happy these days, but also for Democrats who sense it's mourning in America. Likely incoming Pennsylvania House Speaker Republican Sam Smith says he wants to reduce the size of our bloated, obscenely expensive legislature. With this suggestion, Smith supplants Phil as my new favorite resident of Punxsutawney, which is American Indian for, I kid not, "land of sandflies. " Hours after Republicans conquered Harrisburg, Smith said, "There's nothing magical about 203 in the House or 50 in the Senate.

HARRISBURG - In recent years, many have pushed for cutting the size of the Pennsylvania legislature: reformers, think tanks, candidates for office. But now the call for shrinking the 203-member House of Representatives comes from an unlikely source: one of those 203 members. And not just any one - the representative who, come January, is expected to become House speaker. Fresh off his party's victories at the polls, House Minority Leader Sam Smith (R., Jefferson) on Wednesday said he would like to see the chamber's ranks trimmed - for the simple reason that he believed it would make it easier to get things done in the Capitol.

IF PENNSYLVANIA hopes to get the kind of fundamental political reform it so desperately needs, it needs young people like George Hicks. The 19-year-old college sophomore from the Mount Airy section of Philadelphia is an intern with the statewide nonpartisan grassroots/reform group Democracy Rising Pa. When I ask how long he intends to work there, he says: "Until we get government reform and integrity legislation passed. " I hope the kid has staying power. Between our Legislature's antics, highlighted by members indicted, jailed or under investigation; judicial scandals and messes at the Delaware River Port Authority, the Philadelphia Housing Authority and the city's DROP program, reforms will take time - and might well rest with the young.

In Monday's edition was a commentary by Tim Potts, cofounder of Democracy Rising PA. In it, he mentioned my name in a grossly misleading and dishonest way ("Call Pa. pay raise what it was"). I have debated Potts on various issues related to state government on several occasions. After each debate, he writes some piece where he misrepresents what I said. For example, a couple of months ago I disagreed with his call for a constitutional convention for a variety of substantive reasons relating to the inability to control such a convention and the procedural difficulty of correcting mistakes enshrined in the constitution.

TRENTON - In its understated chamber on the top floor of the Hughes Justice Complex, the New Jersey Supreme Court on Tuesday heard arguments in the first legal test of a growing political movement to recall several U.S. senators. "The nation is watching. Yes, indeed," said Andrew Schlafly, attorney for the tea party group trying to recall U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez (D., N.J.). "New Jersey is a leader in this area. " New Jersey has the strongest recall law in the country. What happens here is expected to affect similar efforts to recall U.S. Sens.

Saying that Pennsylvania government had failed to grapple adequately with issues ranging from taxes to legislative redistricting, Clifford Haines, the state bar association president, plans today to announce the appointment of a study commission to recommend changes to the state constitution. The announcement is an attempt to revive a stalled proposal for constitutional changes that foundered last fall following intense opposition from the state's trial lawyers. "It has been 40 years since we last did this [amended the constitution]

I HAVE to admit I got a chuckle out of the Daily News editorial page joining the chorus calling for a state constitutional convention (Dec. 28). For some reason, the People Paper and a few others believe there is a real possibility that the magic of 1776 will be recreated by a gathering of involved Pennsylvanians who care about good government. (The way the DN envisions it, of course). I think such a convention would be a political freak show. Let's be realistic. What kind of people are going to run for the chance to make these important changes?