Corporate officials are influencing the plans for the proposed Conference of States, a John Birch Society researcher says.
Don Fotheringham, the John Birch Society official, cites an informant at the April 21 meeting of the conference steering committee in Florida, where Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt and fellow planners were joined by a dozen representatives from big business.The steering committee had announced previously that it was decided at the meeting to postpone the Conference of States until 1996.
The conference is intended to provide a mechanism for states to press for a change in the federal-state balance of power. The plan is opposed by the Birch Society, the AFL-CIO, the Eagle Forum, Ross Perot's United We Stand and "patriot" activists led by Colorado state Sen. Charles Duke.
The opponents fear it will result in an effort to amend the U.S. Constitution. Conference supporters say there is no way the conference could be turned into a constitutional convention.
The Conference of States committee meeting was in conjunction with a meeting of the Council of State Governments, a key conference sponsor.
Invited along was the government council's associate membership: 150 representatives of corporations and nonprofit associations who pay $3,000 annually to receive council publications, attend its meetings and "help us think through and sort out projects," said CSG Executive Director Dan Sprague.
Not all attended the Florida gathering. Of those, about 12 to 15 stayed for the Conference of States discussion. That was the setting when the steering panel gaveled to order. Shortly after, in came the informant.
Sprague said the man took extensive notes for most of the meeting and was asked to leave when he refused to sign an attendance record.
According to the John Birch Society, the man is a "friend" of an Illinois good-government fax network called the Council on Domestic Relations.
"The people who were seated at the tables seemed to be corporate lobbyists. I know for a fact three oil companies were represented there: Chevron, Texaco and Mobil. There were also other big corporations and CSG members," the man said.
The corporate representatives wore name tags identifying their companies. They took part in the discussion, and they were said to be "adamant about going forward under the present plan by merely moving the timetable backward."
Fotheringham said, "I'm disturbed by the fact there are private corporate interests in there exerting influence on elected officials outside of their domain.
"We elect state officials to conduct state business. What are they doing there messing with the Constitution, and who are these people who exert such influence on them?" the Las Vegas man said.
Leavitt and Sprague said corporate officials bring government-affairs expertise and a different perspective to the picture. They also get hit up for money.
Company and foundation representatives were invited to the Florida conference because the steering committee wanted their input, and it "wanted to evaluate their ability to finance this effort," Leavitt said.
"Any characterization that they are somehow controlling this is both wrong and self-serving," the governor said. "It all fits in very neatly to (opponents') conspiracy theories. Virtually everything can and will. It's wrong and it's unfortunate, but it's consistent with their pattern."
The opponents have mounted a well-organized, well-financed campaign to derail the conference, and it's no secret it will take money to respond, Leavitt said.
"I don't know where they thought we were going to get money if not by going out and raising it from individuals and organizations," he said. "It would be inappropriate for us to be using state resources to do this."