The Winona Daily News has noticed that there's something about Steve Drazkowski. It's not just that he throws a copy-cat bill in the hopper at the state capitol.
It's that he does this repeatedly, ignoring the lessons of history and the consequences of his behavior for the Republican Party of Minnesota.
Speaking for the editorial board, Jerome Christenson writes in Our view: Constitution trumps pandering legislation:
What part of the Constitution of the United States doesn’t Rep. Steve Drazkowski understand?
Well, considering the bill he introduced last week, he hasn’t figured out this part:
“This Constitution, and the laws of the United States which shall be made in pursuance thereof; and all treaties made, or which shall be made, under the authority of the United States, shall be the supreme law of the land.”
That’s Article VI, Steve, if you want to look it up.
Too bad he didn’t do that before authoring HF 419, which states that “... no new federal firearms law shall be enforceable within the borders of the state of Minnesota.”
We’d recommend he join Rep. Greg Davids and the other 18 Republican members who signed onto the bill in a weekend refresher course in constitutional law ... maybe the U of M could arrange a legislators group discount on the tuition.
Of course, Draz, Davids and their co-signers aren’t being particularly clever or original here.
How's that? The editorial provides a history lesson, then continues:
Drazkowski defends his action saying that legislators in 17 other states have introduced bills just like the Firearm Protection Act he introduced last week.
If legislators in 17 other states jumped off a bridge, would that be reason for him to do it, too?
Do we really need more monkey-see monkey-do legislation by Xerox machine, or might we have learned something from the money, time and energy wasted on last year’s ALEC-spawned controversies and ill-fated constitutional amendments?
We might have learned, but Draz and his co-sponsors haven’t. They’re ever so willing to waste taxpayer money and state employees’ time on pointless pandering quests that have absolutely no chance of becoming enforceable law.
Then again, self-promotion is a lot easier than governing.
Perhaps Draz and Cornish could form the Self-Promotion Caucus. Draz got his headlines in Tuesday's WDN article Drazkowski: Hands off our guns, officers:
Drazkowski introduced his Firearm Protection Act last week, which says that law enforcement officers who attempt to enforce federal laws on gun control could be charged with a felony.
“It’s intended to demonstrate and communicate to the federal government that’s trying to enforce an unconstitutional law that we’re not going to allow that to be enforced here,” Drazkowski said.
Drazkowski’s legislation isn’t unique in wording or intent. At least 17 statehouses are looking at nearly identical laws, including Texas, North Dakota, Missouri and Alaska. They’re seen as a response to President Barack Obama’s January proposal to ban military-style assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, among other reform measures.
Perhaps Draz, who works as a SEO professional, found the bill via a google search, rather than through his connections in the Tenth Movement. Readers may recall that he was quoted in a 2010 ALEC press release pushing the "Repeal Amendment":
“The federal government continues to squash the sovereignty rights of the states as guaranteed by the 10th amendment to the U.S. Constitution unrelentingly and at an accelerating pace. From countless unaffordable federal mandates imposed upon Minnesota's healthcare system, education programs, and even families, the overreach of Congress has gone unchecked. It's time for the states to restore their Constitutionally-protected autonomy, and that's why I am going to sponsor the Article V application for the Repeal Amendment.”
Steve Drazkowski, member, Minnesota House of Representatives
Fast forward. The WDN reports that the Winona County attorney sees some constitutional issues with the latest Draz copycat bill:
Trying to enforce a state law that would ban the enforcement of federal law would be quite a challenge, said Winona County Attorney Karin Sonneman.
“I think the act itself as proposed is very problematic under interpreting the supremacy clause,” Sonneman said, referring to the part of the Constitution that says federal law supercedes state law.
Photoshop: The Chocolate Draz is back with another zombie bill. Once a victim is bitten, he just keeps spreading this malarkey. Image by Tild.
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