Oklahoma petitioners plead not guilty to conspiracy charges
Feb 3rd, 2008 by Rob
Three people arrested for violating an Oklahoma petition law pleaded not guilty this week to charges of conspiracy to defraud the state.
The three – Paul Jacob, Rick Carpenter and Susan Johnson – were indicted after taking part in a petitioning campaign in October in which they called for, among other things, inclusion of a “taxpayer bill of rights” on the state election ballot. Oklahoma law prohibits the hiring of out-of-state residents to work as signature-collectors in petition campaigns; Jacob (who is affiliated with the U.S. Term Limits organization) is from Virginia, and Johnson (president of the National Voters Outreach) is from Michigan.
Jacob said the group checked with state election officials before the petition drive to confirm the legality of using non-resident workers, and that they informed him it would be permissible for the workers to “move to Oklahoma and immediately declare residency.” Jacob also asked for and received relevant legal precedent before coordinating the campaign.
After several petition workers moved to Oklahoma to satisfy the residency requirement, they gathered the 300,000 signatures necessary to get the measure on the ballot. Says Jacob:
Then, the various forces of big government that had worked so hard to block the vote, joined by a who’s who of corporate CEOs and the heads of energy companies and banks… challenged the petition. And the Oklahoma Supreme Court came to their aid, providing a much different standard for residency than in the past. The judges now equated residency with a ‘permanent home.’”
As a result, Jacob and other paid workers were arrested and all signatures were thrown out.
Attorney General Drew Edmonson wrote, “Our allegations involve violations of state election laws that denied the ability of the Oklahomans who legitimately signed the petition to bring this measure to a vote.”
The case has sparked outrage among various citizens’ rights groups, who view the arrests as politically motivated attempts to protect special interests. Paul Jacob wrote on his website,
“The people who run the state of Oklahoma want to make certain that upstart reformers like Rick Carpenter don’t dare attempt any future initiatives, and that professional petition managers like Susan Johnson or “outside agitators” like me quickly think better of providing any assistance to such citizen-initiated efforts.
The goal is to scare, to intimidate, to silence… Politics has lurched off the highway of democracy, off the curb and back into the old insider system, the gutter method of accumulated power.
Once upon a time you could participate in politics without a battery of attorneys. Once upon a time you could lose an election without fear that one’s opponents would use the power of their office to imprison you. No more.”
If convicted, Jacob, Carpenter and Johnson could face fines up to $25,000 or up to 10 years in prison.
