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Mississippi Constitutional Convention
In February 1988, the Mississippi state legislature passed a resolution calling for a constitutional convention. When an amendment to the bill threatened the right to work provision in the constitution, I was sent to see if there was any way to stop this bill. The bill had passed both houses overwhelmingly and was in a conference committee.
Action Plan:
Logistics: I quickly loaded my computer, a copier, and other basic office equipment into my car and drove straight from Albuquerque, New Mexico, to Jackson, Mississippi. Along the way I formulated strategy with supporters in Mississippi and at the National Right to Work Committee.
On the Ground: Once in Mississippi I promptly met with key legislative leaders and lobbyists who were concerned about the bill. The situation was worse than I initially suspected: most of the state’s largest newspapers were in favor of the convention, and the governor, lieutenant governor, and two-thirds of the legislature were also supportive of the issue. Fortunately, I was able to secure a statewide spokesman right away, and we began our program.
Inside Strategy: It soon became clear that we could not stop the bill in the Senate; instead, we needed to increase statewide awareness of the danger and put pressure on House members to kill the bill. We hoped that by putting out some initial advertisements, we could create some controversy. This would keep the bill in the conference committee until our mail hit and we could put even more pressure on target House members—especially the conference committee members who could kill the bill just by holding on to it.
Success: We hoped that this would be a fairly quick project. Instead it stretched out nearly four months. Despite having all the odds stacked against us initially, we successfully managed to mobilize thousands of citizens and alert them to a very real threat to their liberties. With two days left in the legislative session, the conference committee came out with its report, which still had no protection for right to work. The House responded, with a margin of two to one, by sending the bill back to committee. The bill died in committee.
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