RALEIGH – Representative, constitutional government in a free society is based on rules. You may not like them, you may seek to change them, but you must respect them along the way or the system fails to function.
At least, that’s what the kids learn in civics class. Among North Carolina’s political class, rules and procedures are pesky annoyances. They frustrate rapid action. They exist to be evaded.
There are gross violations of rules – the scandals now enveloping Agriculture Commissioner Meg Scott Phipps and Senate leader Marc Basnight’s political allies are prime examples – and then there are minor violations. Associated Press reporter Gary Robertson writes about an example of the latter in a wire story I ran across Sunday night.
So-called “blank” bills are filed by North Carolina legislators who don’t want to reveal the real intent of their legislation until some future point – often beyond the filing deadline (first rule evaded). Sometimes the need for secrecy is strategic. Sometimes lawmakers just don’t quite know what they want to legislate, only that they need to legislate in order to show they’re doing something and ought to keep doing it as long as possible (Fish gotta swim/ Birds gotta fly/ Pols gotta stay in town past July). The game typically involves having blank bills go through first reading on the floor without most members, reporters, lobbyists, or the general public having the slightest idea what is going on (second rule evaded, on first reading to inform the public).
Blank bills allow legislators to, essentially, hold a place in line until they are ready to check out. Too bad that the rest of us have no idea when they’ll show back up, and how many items they’ll be wanting to slap down on the scanner.
Those who employ this device advance a number of suggested justifications. They are nothing more than rationalizations. If filing deadlines are too cumbersome and intrusive, change them. If first reading is an unnecessary formality, dispense with it. But our leaders should have the courage to seek a change in the rules, rather than simply finding ways to get around them or subvert them. As with per-diem and expense payments, the abuse of which members justify to themselves and others because their statutory pay is too low, blank bills are part of which dismays average North Carolinians about their government.
There’s no rule, however, that requires the political class to care.