Via Right-Mind, the Idaho State House passed HJM4 (status page), sponsored by State Rep. Dick Harwood:

HJM 4, a non-binding memorial sponsored by Rep. Dick Harwood, R-St. Maries, to declare Idaho’s sovereignty from the federal government and ask the feds to “cease and desist” from violating that sovereignty, passed the House just now on a 51-17 vote. Harwood read from the 10th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, and told the House, “With them words, the states of this United States created the federal government.” It was meant to be an agent for the states, he said, not the other way around. Harwood decried federal actions that push states to comply under threat of losing federal funds. “They’ve moved us in a direction that we can’t afford to go … and we shoulda never went there,” he said. And he told the House that he believes the United States is not a democracy and not even just a republic, but a “confederacy,” adding, “To be accurate, we’re a confederated republic.”

Rep. George Sayler, D-Coeur d’Alene, a retired high school government teacher, responded, “The Constitution clearly states that … we the people do ordain and establish this government. Our government is a government of the people and by the people and for the people – it is not a compact of states. I think that issue was further defined during the civil war … was it to be a compact of states, or was it to be a union of the people? And the answer of the north, when the south seceded, was that it was a union of the people. … I think that this memorial is probably fighting a 200-year-old battle, and I’m not quite sure how it’s going to serve us.”

Rep. Phil Hart, R-Athol, spoke out in favor of a return to the gold standard, and said he supported the memorial because of its statements against the federal reserve system. Rep. Lenore Barrett, R-Challis, also spoke in favor of the measure. Harwood said a number of other states are considering similar memorials.

Regarding State initiatives, Paul Lorenzen, citizen of Idaho, has been in contact with the State’s Attorney General office in petitioning to amend Idaho election laws for eligibility…

RE: Idaho Initiative to Amend Election Law – Obama Elgibility

 

I thought you might like to know about the effort we are leading to amend the Idaho election laws to require that the Secretary of State proactively and independently verify elgibility of all political candidates on any state ballot.

 

The attached documents should give you a good feel for what we are proposing.  This would not change the past but it would require that any candidate in the future, including incumbants at the time the amendment is past, would need to submit proof of elgibility and permit independent investigation and verification.  This would mean that if Obama wants to run for re-election in 2012 in Idaho he would need to provide proof of his elgibility in order to be put on the Idaho ballot.

 

The Attorney General’s office initially was not in favor of the amendment but after I send the attached letter I had a lengthy discussion with him and he now understand that it is for future elections not to undo the 2008 election results.

 

He is now fully supportive of the amendment and we are hoping that the senators and representatives to whom we submitted it will now get it into a Bill form and have it considered by the Idaho legislature.

 

Please review the attached documents.  Any publicity or support you can give in this direction would be appreciated.

 

Thanks

Paul Lorenzen

Associated documentation (PDF format):

• Proposed Candidate Qualifications Legislation – Draft
• Letter – Attorney General – Proposed Bill
• Letter – State Legislators – Proposed Bill

A current listing of State-based initiatives can be found here.

-Phil