Article from the Jan. 6, 2003 Baldwin Register Newspaper
New group seeks impact
on wide range of issues
Sprawl, constitutional
reform among topics
By
BRENDAN KIRBY Staff
Reporter .
FAIRHOPE -- After talking
politics for most of the last year, a group of
The new organization,
Citizens for Responsible Government, aims to influence state and national policy
on taxes, spending, growth, election reform and other issues. Edward Lawrence,
who owns a small consulting firm in Fairhope, said the political discussion club
he formed in February found it had reached consensus on a number of issues.
"We thought maybe
instead of just talking about these things, maybe we should start being a little
more activist," he said.
Establishing a fair tax
system at both the state and federal levels, with as few loopholes as possible.
Calling a constitutional
convention to rewrite the century-old governing blueprint.
Reducing wasteful
"pork-barrel spending."
Creating a system of public
financing for political campaigns.
Instituting an election
system known as instant runoff voting in which voters would rank all of the
candidates for office by order of preference.
Advocating "smart
growth" policies to protect the environment and limit suburban sprawl.
Members of the group said
they plan to write letters to the editor and sponsor issue forums on various
issues to educate the public and attempt to build ground-level support for their
ideas. They have a Web site at www.responsiblegov.net and said they want to
sound out elected leaders.
Fairhope resident Harvey
Joanning, who was elected the group's president, said he is unsure whether the
group will endorse candidates. Joanning, who has lobbied legislatures in
"We're trying to do
some of what a lobbyist would do without a partisan or financial agenda,"
he said.
The Web site contains
position papers written by members of the group and links to Web sites of other
reform groups.
"We're not going to
try to do what other groups are doing. But what we can do is assist these
groups," he said.
Some of the club's goals,
such as constitutional reform, are firmly on the agenda of reform organizations.
Others, such as public financing of campaigns, have barely made a blip in
Kathryn Bowden, the
executive director of Alabama Citizens for Constitutional Reform, said a dogged
public education campaign over the last few years has convinced most people that
the constitution robs local governments of meaning ful decision-making
authorities and hamstrings other reform measures. She said she is glad to hear
the
"I'm not surprised. I
think we've done a good job getting our message out on the need for reform. Now,
the debate is how we get there," she said. "Three years ago, nobody
was talking about it. Now, everybody's talking about it."
Citizens of Responsible
Government hopes to change the tenor of
Advocates contend such a
system would save
Edward Still, a
"It hasn't been on the
radar screen. We haven't gotten anybody else talking about it," he said.
"When you got a bunch of leaky pipes, you don't think about adding on to
the house."
Joanning, 55, said he
taught psychology at the
"We're trying very
hard to make sure all views are heard," he said. "I know how to get
disparate groups talking to one another without fighting."
Lawrence his group provides
a place for folks who want an outlet for their political opinions.
"So much of the time,
in a social setting, politics is an issue people want to avoid," he said.