Do you trust this man?
I’ve never been sure what to make of our State Senator Tony Strickland. The 6’5 Republican won a squeaker in 2008 and from his time in Sacramento he’s trended (in my view, perhaps not legislatively) more Cameron Smyth than George Runner (the other -much shorter- senator who represents the SCV).
But no longer: Senator Tony Strickland has thrown down the gauntlet and is making a bold play for the Tea Party/Tenther crowd after introducing a bill that would require California voters to approve Obamacare.
Wuzzat you say?
Take it away KHTS:
This morning State Senator Tony Strickland proposed Senate Constitutional Amendment 29, which if passed will require voter approval of any state or federal measure implementing a healthcare program that:
- Requires individuals to obtain health coverage;
- Requires individuals to guarantee issuance of health coverage;
- Creates a “pay or play” system for employers;
- Creates a government entity to compete with private plans;
- Creates a single-payer healthcare system.
According to Strickland’s office, the amendment would affect any healthcare program containing at least one of those provisions created after January 1, 2010.
KHTS says that if Strickland can’t get this Amendment past the Senate and Assembly, he’ll likely try to push it onto the November 2010 ballot.
Earlier I said Strickland was making a play for the “Tenther” crowd. What’s a Tenther? Tenthers are conservatives who have developed a new-found* admiration for the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution in the last 12 months. Broadly defined, they are folks who are using the Tenth Amendment (the one that says all powers not enumerated for the Federal government are reserved for the states) to derail any and all federal legislation they don’t like. Tenther Hall of Famers include:
- Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty, who, in September said health care reform might be unconstitutional
- Texas Governor Rick Perry who threatened secession last summer
- South Carolina representative Mike Pitts, who has introduced legislation that would replace the US Dollar with gold and silver coins in South Carolina
- Michele Bachmann, Minnesota Congresswoman
- Southern Secessionists and slave-owners of the 19th Century
With his Constitutional Amendment, Strickland is essentially arguing the same thing, saying, in effect, that the Federal government is constitutionally prohibited from passing health care reform and Californians would only receive its benefits if they approved of it in a subsequent vote.
It’s a pretty brilliant play for Strickland, who up until now has labored in relative obscurity compared with say, George Runner. This may get him on the map, nationally, if the other states’ Tenther movements are any indication.
What if Obamacare passes and Strickland has his way? Well all the good things in the bill -no more cancellation of policies over pre-existing conditions, the creation of state exchanges that would improve competition and lower costs- would not “become effective or be enforced in this state unless the statute or program is approved by the voters,” he told the VeCo STAR.
Even though I’m a supporter of health care reform, President Obama, and the Democrats in Congress, I’m more than a little pleased by this development. It’s so cool that we have a real Tenther in California and he represents a district in this valley, which is apparently becoming something of a mecca for Tea Party crowd, judging by the last several weeks.
* I say new found because these same folks didn’t seem to have a problem with federal legislation when President Bush was signing into law the $1.2 trillion Medicare drug entitlement bill or No Child Left Behind
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