Eric Dondero and Taxpayer’s Rights Movement win major case in Federal Court, to protect rights of Ou

- Eric Dondero, [url=http://www]http://www[/url].Libertarian Republican I am walking on Cloud 9 this morning. I just got the details from my good friend Scott Tillman about our Federal Court win yesterday in Oklahoma. Scott along with Paul Jacob are with Citizens in Charge, a national grass roots group that sponsors petitions for Taxpayer Bill of Rights, Term Limits, Spending Caps and Property Rights initiatives.

Last August, another Professional Petititioner Sherry Ferrel of Florida and I were Co-Defendents in a court case in Oklahoma to overturn the States' recently enacted ban on Out-of-State Petitioners. We lost the first round. The District Court ruled in favor of the Secretary of State against Out-of-State Petitioners. It came as a shock to us, cause the Judge was generally regarded as conservative-leaning. But our lawyers Todd Graves and Eddie Greim appealed. And then yesterday, out-of-the-blue, with no advanced notice, the Federal Court over-ruled the lower court's decision. The effect of this win will reverberate across the country for various movements on the Right, who use out-of-state petitioners, including the Libertarian Party. It is a huge loss for the Left who have repeatedly tried to block petitioners physically or through the courts from collecting signatures for libertarian/conservative causes. Also, this effectively overturns recently enacted laws by the legislatures in Montana and South Dakota that bars out-of-state petitioners. Governor Schweitzer of Montana was particularly agressive in fighting us libertarian petitioners in 2006. He managed to get our petitions for Property Rights and Spending Caps kicked off the ballot, even though we had managed to collect twice as many signatures required. Ironically, the liberal petitions, including a minimum wage increase remained on the ballot despite the fact that they had collected only 10% more signatures than were required. So, this is a huge blow to the Left, and an enormous victory for the Right (libertarians and conservatives.) Here's all the details from Paul's office.

For Immediate Release Contact: Brandon Holmes December 18, 2008 10th Circuit Court Overturns Okla. Law Residency Restrictions Unconstitutional Circuit joins 9th and 6th in unanimously ruling states can’t bar non-residents, National initiative rights group lauds decision, which may scuttle prosecutions (Woodbridge, VA) … Citizens in Charge Foundation, a national initiative rights advocacy group, applauded today’s federal 10th Circuit Court of Appeals 3-0 ruling that an Oklahoma law requiring that petition circulators be residents of the state violates the First Amendment rights of Oklahoma citizens. “We have long argued that residency restrictions are unconstitutional violations of the First Amendment rights of citizens to petition their government,” said Paul Jacob, president of the Citizens in Charge Foundation. “The impact of these laws is to reduce the number of people available to help Oklahomans speak out politically.” The decision in this case, Yes on Term Limits v. Savage, joins the 9th Circuit’s July decision in Nader v. Brewer and the 6th Circuit’s October ruling in Nader v. Blackwell. All three circuit court decisions were unanimous in overturning residency laws for petitioners “Circulating petitions is the only job in politics facing these legislative restrictions,” Jacob pointed out. “Campaign managers, lobbyists, advertising executives, and others can be from outside the state, but not petition circulators. Why not? The reason is clear: legislators don’t like petitions because they allow citizens to get around those same legislators.” Yes on Term Limits Inc. sought relief from Oklahoma’s law to allow them to begin a ballot drive using circulators from both within and outside the state of Oklahoma. “Only an Oklahoman can propose a petition, only Oklahomans can sign that petition, and only Oklahomans can vote on any measure proposed by petition,” Jacob argued. “But Oklahomans should be allowed to hire anyone they choose to carry their petition around the state.” In December of last year, Attorney General Drew Edmondson indicted Jacob – as well as Rick Carpenter of Oklahomans in Action and Susan Johnson of the petition company, National Voter Outreach – with criminal conspiracy for allegedly hiring non-residents to gather signatures on a 2005 petition for the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights. If convicted, the three face ten years in prison. “This decision also impacts the criminal prosecution of the Oklahoma 3,” said Jacob. “We did not violate this law, but now we know that the law in question is unconstitutional.” “Mr. Edmondson should end his politically-motivated prosecution, which has had a terribly chilling effect on Oklahoma citizens wanting to petition,” Jacob added. Citizens in Charge Foundation is a national group that works to educate citizens and opinion leaders on the importance of the voter initiative and referendum process, and litigates to protect the initiative rights of citizens. However, neither Citizens in Charge Foundation nor Paul Jacob are a party to this litigation. For more information or to arrange an interview, contact Brandon Holmes at (703) 492-1776 or brandon@citizensincharge.org.

There is a small chance that it will be appealed by the State of Oklahoma to the US Supreme Court. But for now the ruling stands, and residency in a particular state is no longer a requirement to collect petitions in any state nationwide.

Guest Column——Bio and Archives

Items of notes and interest from the web.