Below is my latest column for Liberty Ink Journal headquartered here in Northern Colorado. Regular listeners to my show and readers of this blog will recognize my scathing critique of National Popular Vote, which threatens our republic. I’ve been warning about this movement for years and now the threat is bigger than ever. Thank you for indulging me again as I champion the Electoral College.

National Popular Vote threatens our republic

By Amy Oliver Cooke

Few things are more irritating than Americans mistakenly labeling our county a “democracy” rather than a constitutional republic. The difference between the two is crucial. In a democracy, the majority rules, often at the expense of minority rights. In a republic, power is vested in individuals and is exercised through their elected representatives.

Sadly, many citizens simply don’t know the difference, probably because they have never been taught. But what about those who do know the difference, yet still make the same claim that we are a “democracy”? It’s more than irritating; it’s dangerous.

In a commencement address at Hampton University President Barack Obama said information has become “a distraction, a diversion” that puts pressure on “our democracy.”

Besides his obvious contempt for the first amendment, President Obama’s claim that we are a “democracy” is frightening because as a former constitutional law professor and someone who sworn to protect the constitution certainly he should know better. This was not just a slip of the tongue.

The “democracy” drumbeat from the Left is a calculated misunderstanding and vital to the supporters of a dangerous movement called National Popular Vote (NPV).

NPV is a wealthy, California-based group with a long, bitter memory of the 2000 presidential election. They are dedicated to destroying the Electoral College, one of the most brilliant and least understood institutions contained within the Constitution.

NPV would replace the current winner-take-all electoral system in most states with a nation-wide, popular vote compact. According to Save Our States, a bi-partisan defender of the Electoral College, NPV would require states “to ignore the result within their state and instead give all of their electoral votes to the candidate winning the most votes nationwide.” (In full disclosure, I am an active contributor to Save Our States.) When NPV is passed in enough states to add up to 270 electoral votes, the amount needed to win the presidency, the compact will go into effect.

NPV has no requirement for a majority vote or a provision for a runoff. To add insult to electoral injury, an NPV state conceivably could be forced to throw its electors behind a candidate that doesn’t even appear on its ballot.

Because the Constitution gives state legislatures the authority to decide how to award electors, NPV proponents can bypass the Constitution by cleverly introducing legislation in a number of state houses. Colorado has considered NPV legislation twice, once in 2007 and another time in 2009. Grassroots activism helped defeat it both times. (Colorado voters also soundly defeated a 2004 ballot measure to change how the state awards its electors from winner-take-all to a percentage of popular vote.)

To support NPV, one must believe the misguided notion that the United States is a democracy. If we were, the will of the states such as New York, California, New Jersey and Illinois could be thrust upon states like Colorado, Kansas, Utah, Tennessee and Kentucky.

Our Founding Fathers knew that states had different interests and did not want to see the desires of more populated states forced upon smaller ones. Thus, they created the Electoral College. The Electoral College forces presidential candidates and their supporters to campaign in a wide variety of areas, rather than concentrating on urban centers with large populations.

In the 2000 presidential election, the Electoral College did exactly what the Founding Fathers designed it to do. It didn’t matter that Al Gore had a popular vote plurality of less than one-half of one percent. (Thanks in part to the votes of California’s illegal aliens) It didn’t matter that Gore won the popular vote in both California and New York by huge percentages. To be president, he had to win a majority of the electoral votes, which means he had to win the popular vote in a wide variety of states.

If Gore had been able to win even a single southern or border state–such as his “home” state of Tennessee or Clinton’s home state of Arkansas, he would have been President. George W. Bush won the popular vote in 30 states, therefore giving him the necessary number of electoral votes to win the presidency. Middle America was able to avoid the tyranny of the East and West Coasts.

The Electoral College works, which is why it has not been changed in more than 200 years. It demonstrates our Founding Fathers’ commitment to the protection of minority rights, and the diverse interests of the entire nation–not just the biggest cities or states.

The brilliance of the Electoral College is lost on NPV proponents including Colorado’s Democrat party, which includes support for NPV and the abolition of the Electoral College in its party platform.

NPV does enjoy success in a few states. According to its Web site, four states – Hawaii, Illinois, New Jersey, and Maryland – with 61 electoral votes collectively have enacted the bill. It’s also making its way through state legislatures in both New York and Massachusetts. Together these two states have 43 electoral votes. If NPV is successful in both Massachusetts and New York, that’s 104 electoral votes, nearly 40 percent of what NPV needs to enact the popular vote compact – with just 6 states.

NPV is dangerous to our constitutional republic. Without the Electoral College, all a candidate has to do is win a plurality of the popular vote, even if that plurality comes mainly from a handful of mega-cities on the coasts. Under this scenario states like Colorado, Utah, Wyoming and Kansas can only watch as the East and West Coasts anoint our next president.

Amy Oliver Cooke is host of the Amy Oliver Show (www.amyolivershow.com) on 1310 KFKA. She is also a contributor to Save Our States www.SaveOurStates.com.

Last year the Democrats tried (and failed) to destroy the Electoral College. This year Speaker Terrance Carroll (D-Denver) wants to “reform” the entire process with a new bill that State Senator Kevin Lundberg calls the “voter fraud” bill.  According to the Denver Post, Carroll will introduce his legislation some time next week.  However provisions within the bill already have been made public including “pre-registration” for 16 year olds, almost same day registration, and mail-in ballots for all elections.

Adding insult to injury, Carroll simply dismisses the fact that voters soundly rejected a similar measure in 2002, “Eight years is a long time. Because something fails on the ballot at some time in the past doesn’t mean it’s off-limits.”

But here’s the kicker — the you-have-got-to-be-kidding-me-what-the-heck-are-they-thinking kicker: third party organizations will be allowed to pick up and deliver the ballots.  Think ACORN.  Think corruption.  Think Mickey Mouse will be voting in Colorado’s next election? I bet he’ll be registered.

The Good:  Late this afternoon Major Diggs Brown dropped out of 4th CD GOP race and endorsed Cory Gardner.  Diggs is an officer and gentleman — and a statesman.  Just a suggestion, but how about a Draft Diggs campaign to challenge Rep John Kefalas.  Diggs for HD 52?

The Bad:  Denver Post reports “Democratic moderates in the House of Representatives face relentless pressure as they juggle personal pleas from President Barack Obama, a multimillion-dollar ad barrage and constituents who are fed up with the congressional process.”  Will 4th CD Congresswoman Betsy Markey, who voted no in November, cave under the pressure? It’s political suicide if she does.  While she would be gone, the historic destruction of health care would remain with us forever.

The Ugly:  Barack Obama called “the process” to pass health care reform “ugly.”  In an interview with Fox News Anchor Brett Baier, Obama said, “Yes, I have said that is an ugly process. It was ugly when Republicans were in charge, it was ugly were in Democrats were in charge.”  Stanford law professor Michael McConnell called  the Dem’s “process”  to pass health care reform unconstitutional.

Good news!  There is a new organization Save Our States with the sole mission of promoting the Electoral College throughout the country and defending it in states where it is threatened. Save Our States is the result of a group of concerned individuals from across the United States that came together to pool knowledge and resources to protect and promote the Electoral College.  I’m proud to one of them.

Regular readers know that I spent a good deal of time last spring in a fierce battle to save the Electoral College in Colorado.  Supporters of National Popular Vote, a.k.a. the Koza Scheme, including Senator Chris Romer and Representative Andy Kerr, almost got legislation through the General Assembly that would have rendered Colorado political impotent in presidential elections. Coloradans got wind of the disastrous plan and swamped lawmakers with phone calls and emails urging them to vote no on HB 09-1299.  Fortunately, good triumphed over paid lobbyists and the Electoral College survived.

So far in 2010, Save Our States has helped defeat National Popular Vote in Maine. Also our experts have visited Wisconsin and plan to testify in Alaska.  We have not seen NPV legislation thus far in Colorado but that doesn’t mean we won’t. Last year, it received late bill status meaning it was introduced after the regular deadline.  Please take time to educate yourself by visiting Save Our States.  Under the “STATES” tab, click on Colorado.  There you will some of my contributions.  This year we will be prepared — with Electoral College warriors.

Independence Institute Research Director David Kopel first words on President Obama’s nomination of Sonia Sotomayor to the United States Supreme Court. “It’s a dark day for our country when you have a nominee such as this.” Hear my entire interview with David on iVoices.org.  Thanks to KFKA for providing the audio.

HB 1299 is scheduled for second reading in the Senate on Friday, April 3.  National Popular Nightmare or the Koza scheme likely will pass the Senate and wait for the Governor’s signature.

In the last few weeks I have discovered that supporters of this plan to render Colorado politically impotent are not impressed with arguments about federalism and Founding Fathers’ original intent.  Koza scheme supporter State Representative Claire Levy said as much when she made this frightening statement in a letter to Ross Kaminsky, “It [the Electoral College] prioritizes an unfounded notion of federalism over achieving the result that best reflects the will of the majority. “  You can read her complete response at www.rossputin.com.

Opposition to this nightmare is mounting.  The Denver Post opposed the Koza scheme in a house editorial.  I don’t believe a newpaper in the state has endorsed it.  Yet HB 1299 marches along despite the growing public outcry.

State Representative Jim Reisberg is one of the primary sponsors of HB 1293 the Healthcare provider “fee”.   According to a new report from Independence Institute Health Care Policy Center Linda Gorman, the bill adds as much as a 5.5 percent tax to every patients’ hospital bill and could cost Colorado citizens nearly $600 million per year in increased health care costs.

HB 1293 is another example of the Colorado General Assembly’s wanton disregard for the Colorado constitution and the will of voters.  Calling this a “fee” is disingenious as best and unconstitutional at worst.  Yet given the state Supreme Court’s open hostility toward the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, all Colorado taxpayers can do is swallow another bitter tax pill.

To add insult to injury, the legislation forbids hospitals from telling patients how much they are paying.  On page 9 of the 41-page bill is this chilling line:  A HOSPITAL SHALL NOT INCLUDE ANY AMOUNT OF THE PROVIDER  FEE AS A SEPERATE LINE ITEM IN ITS BILLING STATEMENTS.

Should any Colorado resident or media outlet want to know how the tax masquerading as a fee is calculated, well they are out of luck because the legislation forbids that too. Reisberg’s bill reads:

The State Board, in consultation with the Advisory Board,  shall promulgate rules on reports that hospitals shall be required to submit for the state department to calculate the amount of the provider fee.  Notwithstanding the provisions of part 2 of article 72 of title 24, C.R.S., information provided to the State Department pursuant to the section shall be considered confidential and shall not be deemed a public record.

In other words, don’t ask any questions about how much you are paying or how the tax is calculated because it is none of your business.

According to the Tribune, Republicans tried to amend the bill to make it more transparent but failed.

One of my favorite intellecutal exercises is to speculate about the unintended consequences of public policy.   Professor Robert Hardaway did just that when testified against HB 1299 – the national popular nightmare.  Prof Hardaway uses the 1960 election, with its very close popular vote between Kennedy and Nixon, as an example.  Had we had a national popular vote rather than the Electoral College  in 1960, Hardaway concludes that America would have endured years of lawsuits and no confirmed president until the 1964 election. 

This view is shared by an Independence Institute sister think tank the Evergreen Freedom Foundation in Washington, which is also battling anti-Electoral College forces.  Trent England predicts political instability under the national popular nightmare.

Hardaway’s and England’s predictions aren’t new.  The late Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D-NY) came to the same conclusion in 1979 in his statement about the Electoral College on the floor of the United States Senate.

It would be an election no one understood until the next day or the day after, with recounts that go on forever, and in any event, with no conclusion, and a runoff to come. The drama, the dignity, and decisiveness and finality of the American political system is drained away in an endless sequence of contests, disputed outcomes, and more contests to resolve outcomes already disrupted.

That is how legitimacy is lost. That is how a nation trivializes those solemn events that make for the singlemost important ingredient of a civil society, which is trust.

Imagine Minnesota in 50 states.  Imagine the political instability.  Imagine a banana republic ruled by a small, wealthy and corrupt clique.

Hardaway refers to the national popular vote as the “Koza scheme.”  The name comes from multi-millionaire John Koza, developer of the rub-off lottery ticket , who concocted the scheme to destroy the Electoral College in favor of a national popular vote without a constitutional amendment.  According to the New York Times, Koza even acknowledges that he is circumventing the Constitution.  “‘When people complain that it’s an end run,’ Dr. Koza said, I just tell them, ‘Hey, an end run is a legal play in football.’”

After speaking with Prof. Hardaway, he believes the national popular nightmare is unconstitutional on both a state and federal level and that advocates of the Koza scheme really just want to generate publicity for their dangerous cause.

We have to stop this assault on one of the foundations of our republic, of federalism. Right now, the future of the Electoral College is in the hands of the Colorado Senate.  Contact your state senatorsand tell them how you feel.  Also, contact Governor Bill Ritter and tell him the same.

Mail
Bill Ritter, Governor
136 State Capitol
Denver, CO 80203-1792

Phone  (303) 866-2471

Fax  (303) 866-2003

Email Governor’s spokesman evan.dreyer@state.co.us

Hardaway collaborated with Professor Jim Riley of Regis University to produce much of the information posted to right of my blog under “Pages.”

HB 1299 undermines federalism

Top Myths of the Koza scheme

Questions for state senators to answers

The Electoral College, the Constitution and the case for federalism

Bad day for the Constitution in Colorado. 

The Electoral College is not officially dead — yet.  But it will be shortly.   HB 1299, which changes how Colorado awards its 9 electoral votes in the presidential election, passed out of the Senate State, Military and Veterans Affairs along a party line vote.  It’s on to the whole Senate where it probably will pass.  The insane legislation forces Colorado into a compact of states that throws its support behind the winner of the national popular vote regardless of the will of Colorado voters.  Coloradans can just watch as New York and California annoint the next president.

Mark Grueskin and Ted Trimpa, two lawyer/lobbyists intimately involved with the infamous Colorado Democracy Alliance, testified in favor of HB 1299.  Grueskin was the first to testify.  When Chairwoman Suzanne Williams asked if there were any questions for Grueskin, Senator Bob Bacon (D-Fort Collins) was almost giddy in agreement, proudly proclaiming he is persuaded to support it.  He didn’t have a question — just an opinion.  It was like a judge telling everyone the outcome of the trial after hearing only one witness.   Bacon couldn’t get enough of Grueskin, smiling and nodding in agreement with every word Grueskin uttered.

Three citizens (including me) and two professors testified against HB 1299.  University of Denver Law Professor Robert Hardaway made a compelling case for the law of unintended consequences.  He predicted that this compact will result a plethora of lawsuits that will make Florida look like a student council election.  But committee members had their minds made up already.

When I testified, Bacon lectured me about the nearly 700,000 Coloradans that voted no on Amendment 36 that I cited during my testimony.   Chairwoman Williams didn’t let me respond.  I nearly choked on the blood as I bit a hole through my tongue.

Senators Suzanne Williams, Betty Boyd and Bob Bacon voted to destroy the Electoral College.  Senator David Schultheis voted to save it.

The nightmare that is the 2009 legislative session can’t end soon enough.

Democrat Northern Colorado legislators Jim Riesberg, John Kefalas and Randy Fischer voted to trample on the  US Constitution that has protected the rights of smaller states for over 200 years, render Colorado politically impotent in the next presidential election and ignore the will of Colorado voters.  These legislators gave a thumbs up to Andy Kerr’s anti-Electoral College legislation HB 1299. 

Kerr is affiliated with a national organization National Popular Vote, which has a mission to destroy the Electoral College forcing smaller states to succumb to the will of larger states thus assuring a Democrat in the White House in perpetuity.  President National Popular Vote is Barry Fadem who co-authored a book with among others infamous Democrat lawyer Mark Grueskin.

Representatives Jerry Sonnenberg, BJ Nikkel, Don Marostica, and Glenn Vaad.  Two Democrats broke rank with their party and voted no — Representatives Jeanne Labuda and Sal Pace.

This legislation must be stopped in the Senate.