Montana ALERT! Contact 5 Republican Senators Stop SB120

Alert Montana! Contact the 5 Republican Senators on the Committee!   SB120: HEARING January 24, Friday, 8am, Room 303, on SB120 Article V Constitutional Convention Commissioners bill, at the Montana State Capitol.   You can participate by attending the hearing and testifying. Or Sign up to testify on Zoom at least 2 hours before the hearing at this link: https://www.legmt.gov/participate/ You can submit written testimony at the same link.   CONTACT THE Senators, info below.    MESSAGE: Please vote NO on SB120 the Commissioner's limitation bill which will not work. The remedy in SB120 for controlling the Montana Commissioners and Delegation at a Constitutional Convention is to RECALL the Commissioners and Delegation. However, if Montana’s delegation is recalled because they have “exceeded their authority”… the Article V Constitutional Convention will continue, but WITHOUT any representation from Montana. AND the Convention’s actions to amend the U.S. Constitution will continue without Montana.   Please CONTACT these Republican members of the Senate Judiciary Committee: Senators: Very likely in favor: Barry Usher: 406 252-2888 (Chair of Committee) Daniel Emrich: 406 781-3955 Senators position unknown: Vince Ricci: 406 855-9153 (Vice Chair of Committee)         Gayle Lammers: 406 679-0020     Sue Vinton: 406 855-2625   Copy and Paste EMAIL for Senators on Committee: barry.usher@leg.mt.gov, daniel.emrich@legmt.gov, Vince.ricci@legmt.gov, gayle.lammers@legmt.gov, sue.vinton@legmt.gov   Copy of SB120: https://bills.legmt.gov/#/laws/bill/2/LC1789?open_tab=bill   Oppose Commissioner Limitation Bill for an Article V Constitutional Convention By Eagle Forum National Constitutional Issues Chairman Janine Hansen, director@nevadafamilies.org 775-397-6859   If you oppose an Article V Constitutional Convention, then you must oppose any commissioner limitation bill. The purpose of SB120, the Montana commissioner limitation bill, is to alleviate your fears about what may actually happen at an Article V Constitutional Convention. But the limitation bill will not work.   The remedy in SB120 for controlling the Montana Commissioners and Delegation at a Convention is to RECALL the Commissioners and Delegation. However, if Montana’s delegation is recalled because they have “exceeded their authority”… the Article V Constitutional Convention will continue, but WITHOUT any representation from Montana. AND the Convention’s actions to amend the Constitution will continue without Montana.   SB120 makes the flawed assumption that a Convention will allow only one vote per state. That is preposterous!   “Between 1973 and 1992, 22 bills were introduced in the U.S. House and 19 in the U.S. Senate that sought to establish a procedural framework that would apply to an Article V Convention…The Senate…passed constitutional Convention procedures bills, the ‘Federal Constitutional Convention Procedures Act,’ on two separate occasions; as S 215 in 1971 and as S 1272 in 1983.” Source Congressional Research Service, April 11, 2014.   These bills called for proportional representation of States based on the formula for the Electoral College. None suggested one vote per state, as SB120 does. With this historic precedence, it is folly to assume that Congress would not determine in legislation the formula for state representation as a prerequisite for calling a convention. Again, it is folly to assume that any formula could pass Congress without obtaining the necessary votes from large-population States that would insist on proportional representation.    Why would California with 54 Electoral votes, Texas with 38, New York and Florida with 29 each, voluntarily vote themselves such a huge disadvantage to be equal in a Convention to states like Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, North and South Dakota with 3 or 4 Electoral votes each? It is not reasonable to assume that politically it could possibly happen.   Article V does not give states the power to limit the actions of commissioners. Article V gives Congress the power to Call the Convention, which includes, by implication, making the rules. In Article 1, Section 7, Clause 18, the Constitution gives Congress the power, “To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department of Office thereof.”   Right now the proponents of the Article V Constitutional Convention, because they have failed to reach the 34 states constitutionally required threshold, are finding new ways to COUNT. They are adding together diverse subjects of Article V State Applications from as long ago as one from New York in 1789. They add others from the Civil War era, some opposing polygamy, and others calling for the direct election of Senators, which is already part of the Constitution….to argue that they have reached the required 34 states. They also added that many of the 12 states, like Montana, rescinded their previous applications for an Article V Convention. All of that is astonishing! And as crooked as stealing an election, except they will steal our beloved Constitution instead!   Another concern is that proponents who claim to want a limited Article V Constitutional Convention have lists of amendments they propose themselves, for instance, Mark Levin in his book promotes eleven amendments, Governor Greg Abbott of Texas wants nine amendments and the Convention of States Pocket Guide promotes an unlimited plethora of amendments..   Phyllis Schlafly the founder of Eagle Forum often quoted Chief Justice Warren Burger as the highest authority in the United States to ever speak out on a Constitutional Convention. He stated: “I have also repeatedly given my opinion that there is no effective way to limit or muzzle the actions of a Constitutional Convention. The Convention could make its own rules and set its own agenda. Congress might try to limit the Convention to one amendment or to one issue, but there is no way to ensure that the Convention would obey. After a Convention is convened, it will be too late to stop the convention if we don’t like its agenda…” http://www.eagleforum.org/topics/concon/pdf/WarrenBurger-letter.pdf   Who do you trust with your Constitution today? Unelected appointed delegates to a Constitutional Convention who will never face the voters?