Interview: Jerrol LeBaron of InkTip, Part Three

In Parts One and Two of this interview, Mr Lebaron described the many legal, moral and ethical problems plaguing the California legislative process. In Part Three, Mr. LeBaron describes how We The People can begin to bring the long-hallowed and honorable traditions of enlightened American lawmaking back to the State House in Sacramento.

Q: How could such a law as the Honor In Office Act be enforced?

JERROL: There are some legislators who will perjure themselves day in and day out. There is no hope for them, unless someone reports the violation. However, we are dealing with partisanship. That means that 45-55% are Democrats and 45-55% are Republicans, typically. The Honor In Office Act plays very nicely into that. Newly elected lawmakers might be far more conscious of the new rules. There are other lawmakers in office who have lost their way, because they have had no way to protect themselves from the less scrupulous.

Those lawmakers, can now say, “I won’t perjure myself. If that vote is today, I will have to either abstain or vote ‘no’ because I haven’t had the opportunity to read it.” Because of partisanship and majority vote, we only need a very small percentage of those lawmakers to follow the rules. Now, all of a sudden this small percentage on either side of the aisle is actively reading the bill, and they will find problems with the bills and seek to get them fixed and it will force others to read it too. Just from this one simple common sense law, we could totally change the political landscape.

Q: Is the Honor In Office campaign focusing only on the California legislature?

JERROL: We are starting with California and doing this at the state level. However, we have volunteers from just about every state in the nation, and we plan to get this law passed at the state level nationwide.

Q: Those proposed measures would not affect federal lawmakers. What about Congress?

JERROL: Congress makes its own rules of conduct in the same way as state legislatures. Fat chance we would ever get Congress to pass a law that factually keeps them in line. However, consider this. Almost all of our members of Congress were state lawmakers first. It is at the state level where they learn most of their bad habits, which they then carry with them when they become members of Congress. What we are doing at the state level is teaching them some good habits, which will hopefully carry through at the Congressional level. But by passing this law at the state level, we make it possible at some time in the future for a similar law to be passed by Congress.

Q: How has being involved with Honor In Office affected your ability to run InkTip? In other words, has this campaign affected your business any? Are there any Hollywood pros or others looking unfavorably on your efforts? Or do most in the biz support you?

JERROL: It’s a non-issue, really. Just about everyone can agree on the fact that lawmakers who pass laws that affect the lives of millions of people, even hundreds of millions for generations to come, should know exactly what he or she is signing into law. We all expect due diligence from those we elect to look out for us. That’s just common sense. And I have found that this is the way the entertainment community feels. So InkTip is doing just fine. Producers continue to use our site to find the writer or script they need.

Q: How far along are you with the Honor In Office Act? Fundraising? Signatures? How far do you still have to go to make a real impact? Do you feel you are making one now?

JERROL: I’m routinely in 4-8 publications and radio shows a week, so I am most definitely making progress. However, there is still a long way to go. I haven’t pursued getting the signatures yet, because I have to get 700,000 valid signatures correctly categorized by county and submitted within the space of 5 months of beginning the process. Also, not every signature will be valid. That means in order to get the 700,000 valid signatures I need, I have to obtain a total of 1.2 million signatures in the space of about 100 days. That comes to about 12,000 signatures a day.

As far as I know, in the history of California no initiative that has made it to the state ballot has ever been able to do this based upon volunteer support only. So that means I have to hire a company to get those signatures, and that requires a couple million dollars. I have plenty of volunteer grassroots support, but getting 6000 volunteers to each get 200 signatures is a logistical nightmare, and extremely unreliable if they aren’t professionals in getting signatures and doing the paperwork.

While the grassroots campaign is getting larger and larger, we need some heroes to step forward and finance it. It would be a selfless act in the extreme. There are no financial gains or tax deductions. I am doing this because I believe our country and our state need this, if for no other reason than self-preservation. But once our signature campaign is financed, the odds of it not getting on the ballot are remote.

Who doesn’t want their lawmakers to do their jobs? Who doesn’t want their legislators to honestly represent them? Who doesn’t want their representatives to read, understand and perform due diligence before passing any law? Who can’t see how these corrupt practices have decimated California when we should be thriving? Or how they continue to decimate California today?

In that regard, I believe it is time to go back to the high moral and ethical standards our Founding Fathers respected while conducting the most crucial business in America there is: the passing of critical legislation that affects us all in every possible way.

For those of you who would like more information on Honor In Office, you can visit the website at www.honorinoffice.org You’ll find a wealth of information on Mr. LeBaron’s proposed Honor In Office Act, as well as detailed assessments of what Mr. Lebaron sees as both advantages and disadvantages to the Honor In Office Act itself. Mr. LeBaron has given due diligence to every aspect of his proposed ballot measure. All he asks that you review his proposed measure in its entirety, then make an educated decision of your own. Is the same really too much to ask of our lawmakers?