Chapter 9

Bob and Pricilla stood in the hallway of the state house waiting to be called to testify before the committee. Priscilla's cell phone rang and he could hear a loud voice talking to Priscilla. Priscilla's face got white and she went to the bench and sat down.

"What's wrong Priscilla?"

Remember Mrs. Simmons? Mr. Simmons just killed himself. The IRS auctioned off their home today and they've been told to vacate the house within ten days. Mr. Simmons ate dinner, kissed his wife and went upstairs and shot himself in the head."

Bob sat down on the bench next to her and felt as though he had failed in life. He suddenly felt that his whole life had been nothing but a farce.

"Damn," he said, "What the hell good is it being a Senator if you can't right a wrong?"

Just then he and Priscilla were called into the committee room. Flashbulbs started going off and he saw that the press was out in full force. Television cameras were spotted around the room so that they could catch all of the action. The chairman recognized him and told him that the committee had agreed to let the major news services to televise the proceedings. The chairman looked to the reporters for a sign that they were ready for the meeting to begin.

"Senator Parsons are you ready to proceed with questions form the committee or do you have a statement first?"

Bob just nodded. He shuffled the papers in front of him that contained the arguments for the Amendment. Priscilla had worked hard to assemble all of the positive points about the Amendment. She was still against the Amendment in her heart.

"The chair recognizes Delegate Colborne. You have ten minutes Mr. Colborne."

Delegate Colborne started to question Bob, "Senator Parsons, I do not understand the reasoning behind this bill. This country has functioned for over two hundred years by giving every citizen the right to vote. Up until now my only complaint with our voting system is that too many of our citizens don't use their right to vote. Can you explain why we need this Amendment?"

Bob Parsons looked down at his papers. His mind was still on Mrs. Simmons. He could still hear her crying as she explained her plight over the phone. He heard a banging and looked up and saw that the Chairman and Delegate Colborne were having a heated conversation. He turned and saw Priscilla looking at him with a worried look on her face. She looked at him intently trying to figure out why he was hesitating to answer Delegate Colborne's question.

"Senator are you going to answer my question?" Delegate Colborne asked.

Bob Parsons leaned forward to the microphone, "Pardon me Mr. Colborne. Please forgive me. I received some disturbing news while we were waiting in the hallway. What was your question?"

"I would like to know the purpose of this Amendment."

Bob Parsons paused for a minute and Delegate Colborne asked the question again.

"I guess Mr. Colborne that the main purpose of this amendment is to give us a chance to have better control of the electorate."

"Would you explain that Senator?"

"If we can make the electorate smaller, we wouldn't have to spend as much to control them and we would ensure the jobs of the sitting Congressmen and Senators"

A murmur went up from the spectators that began to grow louder and the Chairman had to rap the gavel to regain control of the meeting. The Chairman stood up and started to bang the gavel and to call Bob Parsons out of order.

"Mr. Chairman," Delegate Colborne said, "How can the Senator be out of order by answering the question?"

The Chairman's face got white and he sank into his chair and people rushed to his desk. Pandemonium broke out as the Chairman was put on top of the desk. Within minutes paramedics came into the room. After the paramedics had worked on the chairman for several minutes, he was taken out of the committee room on a gurney. After several minutes of discussion with the other committee members, Mr. Colborne walked to the microphone of the chairman and announced that he was taking over the meeting.

"Senator would you like to explain your statement?"

"Mr. Colborne, this amendment should never have come out of Congress and I would like to apologize to the American people and to this committee for having been a part of it. I'm afraid that I just listened to the party line and I also got a little greedy myself, knowing that my seat in the Senate would be safe for a long time to come. I'm afraid that the American public doesn't realize that many, no millions, of people that can vote now would not be allowed to vote if this Amendment is ratified by the states. With a small electorate the electioneering could be targeted so that you could easily defeat any opposition."

"Senator, why would Congress send such an Amendment to the states?"

Bob Parsons looked Mr. Colborne in the eye, "As I said sir, the sitting Senators and Congressmen are almost assured of lifetime positions."

"Senator, I still don't understand how Congress could have voted for this garbage."

" Mr. Colborne, I guess the real reason was to protect the good life that they have as Senators and Congressmen. Sir, our forefathers decided that we didn't need kings or royalty in America. The public has allowed our elected officials to become royalty. Our Congressmen make $141,000 a year. but that is just the tip of the iceberg."

"The pension plan for Congress is set up so that a Congressman retiring today at age sixty, with thirty years service will retire with a pension of $99,175 a year. Even if the Congressman is convicted of a felony and goes to jail, he still receives his pension. Recent studies have shown that the pensions of Congress are better than most executive pensions."

"If a member dies in office, it is customary to vote to give his widow or widower an amount equal to his last annual wage in remembrance of his good works."

"If a member of Congress happens to become President, he receives a pension of $157,000 a year. He also receives about $500,000 a year for staff, travel and office expense. That's on top of the Secret Service Protection costs."

Bob looked at Priscilla and saw that she was beaming, "I'm sorry Mr. Colborne, I'm rambling."

"No, No Senator go on. I'd like to hear this. It's rare that we hear a politician speak the truth so eloquently."

Priscilla grinned and punched him in the arm and he looked at Colborne and continued, "Congressmen are paid 32 1/2 cents a mile for the use of their cars. A lot of money could be saved by issuing them cars from the government motor poll for any official use. Congressmen are given special parking spots. All other government employees have to pay for parking, up to $400 a month. The IRS is studying whether to tax these parking privileges, as they should."

"At Washington National Airport one hundred and fifty spaces are reserved for Congress, Chief Justices and other high government officials. The Air Force 89^th Wing also provides transportation for many of the junkets that Senators and Congressmen go on."

Delegate Colborne grinned, "What junkets are those, Senator?"

"Delegate Colborne, since 1997, more than eighty people have gone to the Commonwealth of the Mariana Islands on fact-finding trips. Need I remind this committee that the Mariana Islands are a beautiful tropical paradise? In 1992, four lawmakers took an extended fact-finding tour of the Orient to study the infrastructure. They took twenty-five aides, spouses and escorts. They also inspected the infrastructure of the Great Wall Of China and a giant panda reserve."

Bob paused and looked up to see Delegate Colborne motioning for him to go on, "A Congressman's health plan and life insurance plans are also subsidized by the taxpayers."

"Senator, you say that we subsidize Congress's health plan and yet it's impossible to get adequate health care for all citizens?"

"Yes Mr. Colborne, I'm afraid so. Again I have to remind you, money talks. The HMO's have a powerful lobby in Washington and they know each Congressmen and Senator by name. I'm afraid that the health care industry has forgotten what the letters H-M-O originally stood for. They've taken a short term view and, instead of heading off major health problems and the resulting long term profits, they have opted for immediate profits."

Delegate Colborne shook his head and looked at Bob Parsons with an amused look on his face.

Bob Parsons continued, "A Congressman can belong to the Congressional gym for about half of what it would cost for a membership in a private health club."

"Senior Congressmen are allowed secret get-aways, paid for at tax-payer expense, to allow them to unwind and meet with other Congressmen and cut deals."

"Congressmen that have to have a second residence in Washington are allowed an income tax deduction of $3000 for the second residence."

Delegate Colborne interrupted him, "Senator, you've touched on the IRS. This is an issue close to my heart, as I am being audited since my opposition to this Amendment became known. Do you have any comment on the IRS?"

"Mr. Colborne, Our tax system is so bad that estimates of the wrong answers that the IRS gives to questions that the taxpayers ask are as high as 40%. Our tax system needs to be revised and to be made understandable. If the IRS doesn't understand it, how are the taxpayers supposed to? By the way, the IRS has an office that serves just the Congress and does their tax returns for them. Naturally, these returns are never audited because they were done by the IRS."

Bob looked up and continued, "Mr. Colborne, the tax code is about 35,000 pages long. I'm sure that everyone in this room has done something that at least one of those 35,000 pages say is wrong. If the tax code were made simple, a lot of money would be saved in just the salaries for IRS auditors and staff alone. I feel that a flat tax is wrong, but there has to be a way to make the tax code both equitable and understandable."