The Free and Fair Elections Resolution is model legislation drafted by Wolf-PAC that has been introduced in various forms in states across the country that hope to turn around the sinking ship of American democracy. It’s now been introduced in the Delaware House by Representative David Bentz! Once passed in both the House and the Senate, Delaware will be the 6th state to call for end to campaign finance corruption by way of an Article V Convention.
There are a few key components to this bill:
1.) The Topic to be Addressed
As we discuss elsewhere, the way we fund our elections (and the negative effects that stem from it) is largely determined by decisions made by the Supreme Court of the United States, which has the final say on what’s constitutional. Most famous among its decisions is the case of Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission (2010), which removed any restrictions on independent political spending by non-human legal entities like unions and corporations. Of course, this was not the first or last time that the Court ruled negatively on laws attempting to curtail corruption of government by campaign funds, notable cases including Buckley v. Valeo (1976), First National Bank of Boston v. Bellotti (1978), and American Tradition Partnership, Inc. v. Bullock (2012), and so the resolution makes reference to “related cases and events.” It also states that the Convention should be limited to this topic alone.
2.) Invocation of Article V
The resolution makes explicit that Delaware is calling for an Article V Convention, which would be congregated upon having 34 states pass a resolution on the same topic. Without this, it would simply be a declarative statement by the General Assembly to Congress lacking in any real power to effect change.
3.) The Delegates
Since Congress is the problem we’re working to correct, it wouldn’t make sense to have its members, or any other individuals directly elected by big money or appointed by them, serve as delegates to the Convention. As such, those having ever served as federal officials are barred from holding this position. Instead, delegates will either be currently elected state and local officials appointed by the General Assembly or directly elected for this purpose, at the discretion of the General Assembly. Furthermore, the General Assembly may put whatever limitations necessary on the delegates’ activities at the Convention.
4.) The Daisy Chain
It is simply impossible for 34 different states to pass resolutions with identical language. While this isn’t constitutionally required, to absolutely ensure that the state resolutions are considered together in determining if an Article V Convention should be called, the resolution includes a list of the previous passed resolutions, which came from the states Vermont, California, Illinois, New Jersey, and Rhode Island. This helps safeguard against any quibbling by Congress or the courts on whether to call a convention or not.
5.) Publicity
To make sure that the resolution is counted by Congress, which didn’t deliberately keep track until recently, the resolution states that it shall be distributed to the governors and legislative leadership in each state, the U.S. Archivist, the Secretary of the U.S. Senate, the Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives, the President, Vice-President, and Delaware’s Representative and Senators in Congress.