Kim Wiolland (center) of Tulsa talks with Sen. Tom Coburn after his town hall meeting Wednesday evening at the Muskogee Convention Center. JAMES GIBBARD / Tulsa World
MUSKOGEE - U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn urged Oklahomans on Wednesday to join the movement for a national constitutional convention to cut down an oversized federal government and counter what he repeatedly referred to as a "lawless" Obama administration.
"I used to have a great fear of constitutional conventions," Coburn told about 300 people at the Muskogee Convention Center. "I have a great fear now of not having one."
A national convention called by two-thirds of the state legislatures is one of two ways the U.S. Constitution can be amended. Such a convention has never been called, largely because the Constitution itself was the product of a convention authorized only to amend the existing Articles of Confederation but which replaced it entirely.
Thus, political leaders and scholars have long held that such a convention could be dangerous and even destructive to the nation. But as conservative frustration with the Obama administration has grown, some factions have begun advocating for such a convention.
Coburn's announcement that he had read what amounts to the national convention movement manifesto, Mark Levin's "Liberty Amendments," drew the loudest applause and reaction of the hourlong town hall meeting.
It might also have somewhat cooled the emotions of those in the crowd who were upset because Coburn has been so outspoken in his opposition to a proposal to "defund" the Affordable Care Act by holding the rest of the government's discretionary spending hostage when current authorization ends Sept. 30.
Pressed by questioners, Coburn said the proposal championed by conservative special interest groups such as Freedomworks and the Heritage Foundation - and Levin - would be "childish" and "intellectually dishonest."
Later, Coburn laid out a scenario whereby the Affordable Care Act would be effectively defunded, he said, by ratcheting down the nation's debt ceiling.
As he has many times in the past, Coburn called Obama "a personal friend of mine," but that did not prevent him from calling the president's administration lawless and incompetent and "getting perilously close" to the Constitutional standard for impeachment.
Coburn pointed out that discretionary spending has fallen each of the past two years by a total of $160 billion, "the first time that has happened since the Korean War," and said it was an indication that the much-despised sequestration - automatic, across-the-board federal spending cuts - is working.
"Sequestration is a hard way to do things, but it's better than nothing," he said.
A public defender gently challenged Coburn on the issue, saying sequestration was actually costing the federal government because the Justice Department had laid off so many staff attorneys it had to hire private ones at an hourly rate.
Coburn disagreed, saying: "Your agency, Justice, is one of the most wasteful in Washington. It's not my fault if the money is not getting to you."
Original Print Headline: Coburn backs constitutional convention
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