The Oklahoma 3: The right to petition our government

The video at the top of The Hankster is Paul Jacob talking about the indictment of three organizers of an Oklahoma state-wide citizen initiative. “This prosecution will have a chilling effect on those petition rights of the folks who live in this state and, through spreading fear, perhaps on the rights of citizens all over the country…"

Kim Wright, spokesperson for Oklahoma Independent Voters, called the prosecution an attempt to intimidate voters from exercising their right to petition their government.

“The initiative process provides ordinary citizens, regardless of political party, the opportunity to bring issues to the voters, issues that legislators might not be willing to support or pursue,” said Wright.

h/t Third Party Watch

TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS

FLORIDA
Tuesday's primary vote breaks turnout record (Herald Tribune)

NEW YORK

• N.Y. Republicans endorse McCain (Ithaca Journal)
• Obama builds consensus (LETTER to Ithaca Journal)
• No Clinton-Giuliani `rematch' in NY (AP) Neither McCain nor Obama will be able to lean on independent voters who propped them up in Iowa and New Hampshire. New York's 2.4 million independents can't vote in primaries.
• Who is Best For Our Community Obama or Clinton” (Meeting), Grand Council of Guardians Inc. Presents a Community Town Hall Forum “Who is Best For Our Community Obama or Clinton” (from the Obama website) Also, see "Let the People Decide" on hankstertube part 1 and part 2 -- marchers for the Committee for a Harlem Debate between Clinton and Obama.....

MASSACHUSETTS

• WNEC poll focuses on Mass. vote - 48% of indies undecided, If the general election were tomorrow, 30 percent said they would support Clinton and 16 would vote for Obama. (WNEC MassLive)
• Mitt miss dismissed, Weld: Romney doesn’t need Mass. (Boston Herald) unenrolled or independent voters - who outnumber Republicans and are key in the Bay State primary because they can cast ballots for either party - prefer McCain 47 to 20 percent.

MISSOURI

• Obama emerges as primary pick (Truman State University Index) 26 percent of Missourians who intend to vote do not identify themselves with a political party. Comparatively, 60 students in the Index survey indicated that they do not identify themselves with a political party
• Open Missouri primary offers voters a candidate buffet, and no trail (By Jo Mannies, St. Louis Post Dispatch)

OKLAHOMA
Busted for Petitioning the Government for Redress of Grievances: Paul Jacob Update (Third Party Watch) Kim Wright and Oklahoma Independents defends citizen initiative

ARIZONA
Stanton: Clintons' toxic turn doesn't faze Obama (Tucson Citizen)

THE POLLS

• New Poll: John McCain Would Beat Either Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama (LifeNews.com) Rasmussen: McCain holds leads in part because he does well with independent voters. McCain does better than either Democrat with independents in the new survey, but especially when Clinton is his opponent. Against the former First Lady, he leads 52% to 31% with unaffiliateds.
• NH: Traditional Polling Methods Do Not Work for Nontraditional Candidates (Huffington Post)
• The Fight Goes On! (The Conservative Voice) independents are leaning left and voting McCain

OPEN PRIMARIES
EDITORIAL: Utah vote may make big impact (University Journal Editorial Board)
Campaign spotlight to shine on Wisconsin, Calendar, tight races raise state's profile (Journal Sentinel)

The RE-Indictment of “The Oklahoma 3"

From Okie Campaigns:

Oklahoma AG Drew Edmondson has re-filed "CRIMINAL FELONY" counts on "The Oklahoma 3."

“Everyone should be deeply concerned about this,” Oklahoma Sen. Randy Brogdon said. “The Constitutional rights of every citizen of Oklahoma are in jeopardy as well as the liberty of three good people who face ten years in prison. If this shameful political assault succeeds, everyone is at risk. It is an outrage!”

Brogdon said the only crime committed was the disenfranchisement of over 300,000 Oklahoma voters who expressed their voice by exercising their Constitutional rights."The Oklahoma 3" are Rick Carpenter, Susan Johnson and Paul Jacob.

For more Info see Free Paul Jacob

For video click here

TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS

• Unity 08's Doug Bailey thinks 55% electorate would be open to an independent Bloomberg run., and that should be encouraging... (NY Sun)




• Both (R and D) Iowa primaries in a dead heat + four of five Democrats and two–thirds of Republicans say they are angry at the U.S. political system = ???? (Zogby.com)




• "Spoiler" label for Ron Paul -- Hmmmm.... he must be doing something right in New Hampshire (Wall Street Journal)




• Pew Research says Hispanic voters now prefer Dems (NY Times)




• Obama appeals to the nonprofit sector, points to Harlem Children's Zone as model program (Chronicle of Philanthropy)




• Steven Stark talks about the latest Rasmussen poll and its significance to Obama & The Black Vote in South Carolina and throughout the South (RealClearPolitics)




• Oprah Winfrey’s Obama -- will black women listen? (By: Earl Ofari Hutchinson, Special to BlackAmericaWeb.com)




• Vance Norgaard to run IP in Minnesota special state Senate election (Pioneer Press)




• Virginia's Lucky Narain running independent for vacant 1st Congressional seat (Stafford County Sun)




• Ballot initiative filed in California to end "winner-take-all" electoral votes. Who would benefit? (LA Times blog)




• Party-controlled system is eroding participatory democracy in New Jersey. (Cherry Hill Courier Post editorial)




• Nonpartisan elections Von Reichbauer initiative -- call it voters' revenge (Seattle Post Intelligencer)




• Activist Paul Jacob (see yesterday's post on The Hankster) expects 'ham sandwich' justice from Okla. AG (LegalNewline)




• I&R would helpf shift balance of power to back to electorate (LETTER to Asbury Partk Press)




• Gennifer Flowers likes Hillary (NY Post)




• Question of the week: Who do you vote for? Do you follow the party line or do you carefully consider each candidate when voting? Add your comment to the question of the week. (Napa Valley Register)

Free Paul Jacob!

Whenever I see stuff like this, I consider it good news and bad news for the independent movement. How's that? Well, the bad news is that partisan politics is so crazed that people are being arrested and indicted by grand juries for petitioning to put initiatives on the ballot for folks to vote on. And the good news is that the parties are so crazed because there is a significant and growing constituency in America that doesn't like partisan politics and is willing to do something about it.

National term limits leader and initiative rights advocate Paul Jacob and two others were indicted in Oklahoma on October 2, 2007, on felony charges of violating the state's statute requiring petition circulators to be residents of Oklahoma. "This indictment is not about the law, but about politics — ugly, anti-democratic politics," said Paul Jacob. Click on the link to go to the Free Paul Jacob website and learn more.

And then the indictment was "dismissed".....

Rich Winger reported on this November 22nd in Ballot Access News: "The Oklahoma indictment against Paul Jacob, Susan Johnson, and Rick Carpenter, for allegedly conspiring to bring out-of-staters to circulate an initiative petition in Oklahoma in 2006, has been dismissed. However, it is likely to be re-filed."

Was it a grand jury "mistake"? Was it politics on the part of AG Drew Edmondson?

Jacob wrote a piece this week in The Free Liberal called The Oklahoma 3: "Maybe it's time for all Americans -- conservative, liberal, populist, libertarian -- to "conspire" together to take back our political system from the gutter. Before it's too late."

You can read more of this story on LegalNewsline:
Jacob, a long-time proponent of citizen-initiated referenda, accused Edmondson's office of intimidation by pursuing the indictment, saying "Their prosecution is a 100-percent politically-motivated attempt to threaten and intimidate me, and any other citizens wishing to petition their government...."

A recent editorial in the Wall Street Journal also noted that those opposing ballot initiatives are legally allowed to recruit out-of-state money and bodies to boost their efforts."[P]ublic sector unions opposed to the Tabor initiative recruited people from outfits like the Oregon-based Voter Education Project, an offshoot of the AFL-CIO that specializes in countering signature drives....

TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS

• Paul Jacob, of Virginia, a national leader of the term limit movement-Indictment hits petition effort (Sapulpa Daily Herald) and Out-of-state petition circulators may be out of luck this time (The Edmond Sun)
• New Hampshire-Independents Meet with Kucinich. (Democratic Underground )
• Democrats will lose again if war in Iraq continues (LETTER to The Daily Advertiser)
• New consultancy for independent candidates-D’Amore, Hillsman, Oliver & Barkley (Politico)
• Repub hopefuls grab chance Dems refused in Michigan (Detroit Free Press)
• Republicans Want More Minority Involvement (The Tampa Tribune)
• Alabama: 'Not your grandmother's Baptist preacher' has concerns about how politicized faith has become (Decatur Daily)