Fixing American Politics — A Reformer’s Memo from Kansas City
Kansas City, MO — April 8, 2017
As previously reported in other settings, this is a compilation of my observations from an invitation-only meeting of Independent Political Reformers who convened, at the invitation of Greg Orman, in Kansas City on April 8, 2017.
Greg Orman
As many of you may be aware, Greg Orman made an independent run for U.S. Senator for Kansas in 2014 and almost captured the seat, this despite running as a true indepedent — not a Democrat or a Republican. Kansas these days is mostly a red state, except for the area near Kansas City (Missouri) known as Overland Park, from which Orman hails. Orman is an interesting figure, a self-made businessman who is intensely interested in politics but Midwestern in his manner through and through. As Orman noted when he addressed the group, he has “tried supporting both of the major parties and he has found the results lacking in either case.” At the time, Orman was widely suspected to be contemplating a run for Governor of Kansas — again as an independent — which prediction proved to be correct. As noted above, Orman hosted the Kansas City event, and a barbecue dinner the previous night, along with his lovely and gracious wife, Sybil.
Craig O’Dear
Actually, the meeting was technically hosted by Craig O’Dear, a Kansas City attorney, at his law firm’s (Bryan Cave) offices on the 35th Floor of a skyscraper in the Power and Light District. Like with Orman, rumors were floating at the meeting of an impending independent run for U.S. Senate from Missouri on the part of O’Dear, rumors that were in no way dispelled by Mr. O’Dear, by the way.
Aftermath of Trump Election
You’ll recall this meeting was held fairly recently after the inauguration of Donald Trump in November, 2016, and it’s fair to say that the mood in the room reflected that fact. There were plenty of shell-shocked expressions of disbelief, as many of the people in the room were what you would term political professionals or lifers, folks who have worked on political campaigns as paid staffers, pollsters, election lawyers, and so forth. Just like with the rest of American, pretty much no one took Trump seriously. Because the participants in the room represented organizations that either advocated for election reform (e.g. FairVote) or non-partisan campaigns (e.g. The Centrist Project), the tone of the talks reflected both astonishment/horror at Trump’s accession to the White House and excitement/need for the opportunity to fix what got him there.
Patrick Caddell
One familiar face in the room, among a sea of relative unknowns, was the famed Jimmy Carter pollster, Pat Caddell. I buttonholed Pat at the previous evening’s dinner and ascertained that he was attending at the invitation of Greg Orman, for whom Pat was doing some polling work. At the meeting, Pat gave an impassioned speech — vintage Caddell, for anyone who knows him — that was equal parts a cri de coeur for fixing politics and getting rid of Trump and mea culpa for aiding (indirectly) in electing Trump by virtue of the polling work Caddell apparently performed for Robert Mercer, a major Republican/Libertarian backer of Trump. One might well wonder how a dyed-in-the-wool Democrat like Caddell found himself on the other side of the aisle, but professional politics can produce strange bedfellows, thanks in no small part by the lure of the almighty dollar. Sadly, Caddell did not appear to be a well man in Kansas City, as subsequent events would prove. But there’s no denying the passion he exhibited as he exhorted the group to do right by America by whatever (democratic) means possible.
Application of the Nolan Chart
One of the more interesting presentations made to the group was given by a relative political unknown, a California-based lawyer and writer named Owen Prell who was in Kansas City at the invitation of Charles Wheelan and his Centrist Project organization. (I obtained this information from The Centrist Project’s Executive Director, Nick Troiano, also in attendance.) Prell gave a short talk during which he explained the philosophical underpinnings of centrism, which he visually depicted by referring to David Nolan’s now-(somewhat) famous “Self Government Chart.” Despite the group’s political sophistication, many had not heard of the Nolan Chart (as Prell determined by a show of hands), and there was much interest in the application of a two-axis representation of political orientation, instead of the standard “Left-Right” continuum. The Nolan Chart was originally intended by its creator to benefit the Libertarian movement, but Prell, who said he worked on the two Obama campaigns, was using the chart to demonstrate the appeal of centrism as a political philosophy.
Balancing Budgets
In attendance at the meeting was David M. Walker, the former Comptroller General of the U.S. (under both Bill Clinton and George W. Bush). In private conversations, Mr. Walker struck this reporter as the quintessential rational and reasonable nonpartisan centrist. He understands the noble purposes of (limited) government, even providing great social reforms and international causes (e.g. World War II) when required, but always with an eye in normal times towards what is fiscally prudent: not borrowing excessively and keeping a reasonable balance in tax policy between rates that are too progressive and not progressive enough. As many centrists are painfully aware, fiscal responsibility is not exactly a riveting issue for most of the American electorate, on the order of reproductive rights or gun control, but that doesn’t make it any less important.
Process Organizations
Many talks at the meeting focused on the various means to reform politics by making “process” changes in American democracy, such as Ranked Choice Voting, pursuing litigation to impede or prevent the two dominant parties from partisan redistricting (otherwise known as gerrymandering), promoting easier access to voting by means of mail-in-balloting, and other such methods. There was general agreement that these reforms are: (1) direly needed, (2) difficult to implement, and (3) interconnected in a complex manner. Representatives from several groups addressed the group, including: FairVote, Bridge Alliance, Independent Voter Project, No Labels, and Represent Us.
Meta Reform Organization
The meeting also functioned as a planning session for the creation of a meta organization, a so-called Group of Reformist Groups. As post-meeting developments progressed, the planning of such an organization took shape in the form of the National Association of Nonpartisan Reformers.
