Dear Sirs;

I have come across your site while being angry over the Attorney Generals indictment of those who tried to help Oklahoma with passing the Tabor and Eminent Domain petitions. Tulsa World had an article on page A9 mentioning  only Tabor as they had invested heavily in defeating that which many more than required Oklahoma voters signed. Listed below is first an angry individual harmed by Oklahoma corruption, then a statement by one of the Grand jury indictees, then a statement by his friend. I guess this means those that helped pass the animal cruelty petitions etc. were all felons also?  I'm sure they would like to hear what this state is up to now. I prefer to remain anonymous. Thank you for your good works.

 

 

Below are a few comments from citizens that cannot believe what Oklahomans in power  can do. Those that attempt to help Oklahomans will have to pay due to the government corruption imbedded since statehood 100 years ago, and particularly more than 50 years of the full seizure of  the justice system by the OKC mob. Not Italian type mafia, but a much more dangerous and unprincipled political mob. While many in the country believe the East and West coasts hold the most despicable affront to human rights and the Constitution, the worst is from Oklahoma done freely and without much notice to the country or the world. The game is the same, use race, class level, religion, political party, sex, sex preference, or belief system to fight amongst each other and win the prize of control over all of the unsuspecting. Only in the OKC mob they use many other forms of corruption to silence their foes lest truth get around. The mob has had to have the support of the states largest news media's, who for generations have kept the common folk in the dark secretly promoting the criminals. It has also taken many generation to fill the supreme court and lower courts with corrupted choices, as they have done in the higher educational system with placements of regents, university presidents etc. The placements also went to many other areas and has affected every man, woman and child in the state, not to mention the animals whose fight banning initiative was passed around by like petitioners as mentioned below. Where are the Feds you ask, well as state representatives and senators for many years OKC mob members were given chairmanships of the senate and house influencing choices of FBI etc. and even many Federal judgeships which bought them a blind eye to the states corruption. Not to mention the Oklahoma secret police used for the worst of machinations. You will get very few born in Oklahoma folks to pass a petition, as it is risky to just sign the thing. While the corruption in Oklahoma was started on the basis of greed and genocide against the American Indians with the whole of the United States voting for such a statehood 100 years ago, it has come back to bite every God fearing or freedom loving American by having an unstoppable completely out of control criminal government that is fed to them as normal and acceptable. It is commendable that some have attempted to seize control and reverse course by allowing representative government, but for each step forward they are quashed into oblivion for trying. It will take the National parties to admit to blatant and disgusting allowance and protection of the Oklahoma political mob so their patrons will know and believe what these people have done and continue to do to hold onto power. Several wealthy families for generations have supported these criminals probably to help each other rob the citizenry through taxes to finance corruption or special perks for private robbing of the innocent corruptly legally sort of not. While the folks below are unsuspecting smucks of the Oklahoma mob, they are not the first, or most harshly treated. The many corpses left behind and forgotten had it much worse, and many innocent Americans to come will meet a much worse fate at their hands as they have planned out the next generations of evil control. While they had coined the name the OKC mob, they control the whole of Oklahoma and are closely affiliated with corrupt political figures from other states. I would ask everyone to support those being punished and in fact hold them in your hearts as heroes of Oklahoma and America for their losing war against the pure unadulterated evil of the OKC mob. How come RICO does not include Oklahoma government? How can the rest of the world sit idly by and allow the most evil regime of the planet go on and on without care.

Signed: Just another political prisoner


From free Paul Jacob blog


October 2nd, 2007 by Paul

What Oklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmondson is trying to do to me is wrong.

In America, we cherish the right to engage in politics, to speak our minds, to promote our candidate, to work to pass a voter initiative, without fear of reprisal.

That is why today is such a sad day, not only for me, but for all of us who love the initiative process and the right of citizens to control their government.

This indictment unsealed today is not about the law, but rather 100 percent politically motivated. This is politics  verry ugly politics.

The highest legal office in the state of Oklahoma seems bent on silencing citizens through harassment and intimidation, threats and coercion. The goal is to silence me, and to frighten you, from petitioning our government.

Those who attempt to put citizens in charge of government spending decisions, through initiatives like the Taxpayer Bill of Rights, or any other issue that rankles the powerful political forces of a state, can expect to face an onslaught by the full powers of the government.This is yet another round in the age-old attempt to stop ideas by force, by harassment, by imprisonment, by anything except a better idea. Oklahomans, your attorney general is not practicing democracy. He is practicing the politics of destruction.

It won't work.

This indictment will not stand. I will fight it with every fiber of my being. And I know that, in the end, those who misuse the power of their office for political advantage, employing ugly and un-democratic tactics, will ultimately face an indictment of their own.

My life, my family, my children are being threatened here&for what? For what?

I have committed no crime. Unlless the heartfelt desire to place government under the control of its citizens is now illegal. But this cannot be so. There is much bluster in this indictment. Yet what is my actual offense but that of daring to help Oklahoma voters hold an election to decide an issue?

No, I don't deserve to go to prison for being politically active. I know that. You know that. Mr. Edmondson should know that, too.

The State of Oklahoma threatens me and others with prison to prevent our involvement in political life and to chill the speech and assembly of others who might wish to become involved. Involved in working to hold an election. To give Oklahomans a vote on an issue.

One might expect this kind of repression in Egypt or Iran or China. But not Oklahoma.

We the People will not be intimidated. We will keep fighting to turn out-of-control government into government that is under citizen control. We will defeat this vicious attempt to criminalize honest political activity. And in the end, we will win.

 

Background

Let me address the so-called charge against me. Iâ¬"m accused of violating the Oklahoma statute requiring petition circulators to be residents, a residency requirement currently being challenged in federal court. There seems little justification for this underlying law other than to restrict and hamper the petition process. I believe it will ultimately be struck down as unconstitutional.

Twice in the last quarter centuryin Meyer v. Grant and in ACLF v. Buckleythe U.S. Supreme Court struck down simiilar restrictions, like regulating petitionersâ¬" pay and requiring petitioners to be registered voters. As the High Court put it in Meyer, government cannot â¬Sreduce the available poolâ¬ý of people to assist citizens in communicating with their fellow citizens and petitioning their government.

But regardless of how the courts ultimately rule on the constitutionality of the residency requirement, everyone I worked with on the TABOR petition sought to follow the statute as written. As an advisor to the petition drive, I worked to help Rick Carpenter and Oklahomans in Action obtain the best petition services at the best price, and then to monitor the driveâ¬"s progress.

Oklahomans in Action contracted with a petition company called National Voter Outreach, which had worked in Oklahoma on many successful petition drives before taking on the TABOR petition. That contract stipulated that the company was thoroughly familiar with the laws of Oklahoma regarding petitioning.

As the TABOR petition drive got underway, an aggressive campaign was launched to block and harass petition gatherers. Jeannie Berg, an expert in campaigns of harassment against petition drives, was brought in from Oregon to manage the multitude of blockersmany of them brought in from outside the statee, and reportedly paid $100 a day.

These â¬Sblockersâ¬ý used thuggish tactics, which have been documented. For example, gangs of them would stalk a petitioner, interrupting, yelling and creating a scene whenever a voter was being asked to sign the petition. There was an organized campaign of lying to store managers, alleging rude treatment from petitioners and asking that they be removed.

In response to all the harassment, many Oklahoma petitioners left the state to petition in other states. Given the difficult environment, not enough new circulators were being recruited and retained in Oklahoma to enable the petition to reach the ballot. Under such circumstancesand under the legislatureâ¬"s (not the constituttionâ¬"s) draconian 90-day petition windowI suggested to the petition company that the drive be scuttled.

I was then informed that under Oklahomaâ¬"s statutory residency requirement, people could move to Oklahoma and immediately declare residency, and thus be qualified to circulate the petition. The petition company felt enough people could be recruited to move to Oklahoma to gather enough signatures to bring the question to the ballot.

When I inquired as to whether the state officials had been asked for their guidelines on what constitutes residency, I was told that the petition company had indeed soughtand receivedthe advice and approval of officials in in the Secretary of Stateâ¬"s office. Indeed, two separate individuals with National Voter Outreach spoke to government officials to determine the rules on residency. They were told that people could indeed come to Oklahoma, declare residency, and begin circulating a petition.

In good faith, the company acted on this information.

I also asked the folks at National Voter Outreach whether there had been any challenges of petition drives on the basis of residency, and whether any ruling on same had been issued by the Oklahoma Supreme Court. I received a copy of the courtâ¬"s decision in a challenge to an initiative to ban cock-fighting. In that decision, circulators were challenged for being â¬Sout-of-stateâ¬ý circulators because they had moved to Oklahoma during the petition drive and because many lived in hotels during their residence in the state. According to the information I received, every circulator in the cock-fighting ban petition who declared him or herself a resident was ruled to be qualified to circulate the petition, regardless of how long he resided in the state or whether he lived in a hotel. The only circulator disqualified had listed an out-of-state address on the petition form.   

In 1994 and 1996 I monitored ballot drives in Oklahoma for term limits. During those drives, circulators were required to be registered voters. Many people moved to Oklahoma, registered to vote, and circulated the petition. Often they would live with friends or at a hotel. 

As long as it could be verified that a person was a registered voter in Oklahoma, a proponent could feel comfortable that circulator met the statutory requirements and that his petition would count. However, that voter registration requirement was subsequently struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court in Buckley v. ACLF.  

After the Oklahoma Supreme Courtâ¬"s decision in the TABOR challenge, thereâ¬"s a new interpretation of the residency statute. The new standard argues that no one who moves to the state to accept a job, no matter how long the duration, is a â¬Sgenuineâ¬ý resident unless he is committed to remaining in the state permanently. For example, in the challenge to the TABOR petition, the court ruled that a man who had come to Oklahoma in September of 2005 to circulate the petition and then continued to live in the state for the next ten months was NOT a resident. Thus, the Oklahoma voters who signed his petitions were disenfranchised. 

Under the new requirement of residency there is simply no way for petition companies to adequately determine whether a petitioner is or is not a resident. Therefore, future petition proponents and managers can expect to face criminal prosecution depending on circumstances largely, if not entirely, beyond their control. This is certain to have a chilling effect on petition activity. 

The underlying state statute here is an unconstitutional attempt to deny the First Amendment rights of Oklahoma citizens. I believe it will be and should be struck down. But even so, during the TABOR ballot drive we sought to understand this statute and to abide by it.  

Let me say it again: constitutional or not, we obeyed the statute. 

So, why the prosecution? I am told by many friends in Oklahoma that this outrageous prosecution is, sadly, very much in character for the Oklahoma Attorney General. They inform me that while Drew Edmondson shows an uncanny ability to miss the corruption taking place right under his nose by members of his own Democratic Partysuch that a feederal investigation must now be conductedhe tosses decency and common sennse straight out the window to persecute his political opponents. 

Whatâ¬"s at stake? The very process by which citizens can check their governmentâ¬the right to voter initiative and referendumis under attack in these prosecuttions. When the powerful in government are threaten by citizens demanding reform, they have time and again sought to clamp down on the petition process. 

After term limits swept the initiatives states, something I was very much involved in, legislatures throughout these states launched a barrage of legislation to hamstring and restrict he process and hamstring citizen efforts for reform.Now we see a similar backlash from politicians afraid of the Taxpayers Bill of Rights, which would give voters more control over state spending decisions.  

Three-hundred thousand Oklahomans signed a petition to vote on giving citizens a veto on large spending increases. The state constitution says voters have the right to decide. But the Oklahoma Supreme Court said no.  

Just months ago, the Oklahoma Supreme Court again found a flimsy excuse to block voters from considering another initiativethe so-caalled 65-Percent Solution. The court deemed the short statement that the legislature (not the constitution) requires proponents to place on petitionsi.ee., to give petition signers simply the â¬Sgistâ¬ý of the measuretoo be insufficient. The voters supposedly didnâ¬"t know what they were signing. 

Again, the highest legal authority in the State of Oklahoma, the Oklahoma Supreme Court, tossed the petitions of hundreds of thousands of citizens into the trash.  


From the OKCTalk blog


Later today (Tuesday, October 2nd), a multi-county grand jury here in Oklahoma City is set to strike a serious blow against our constitutionally protected right to petition for redress of grievances. They will charge 3 people for the alleged "crime" of paying non-residents to circulate an initiative petition in Oklahoma, whose law requires that paid circulators must be "residents" of the state of Oklahoma.

Nobody has actually been arrested and tried for the alleged "crime" of being a "non-resident circulator". None of the three people likely to be charged later today solicited any signatures in Oklahoma. I guess their crime will be a "conspiracy to violate the law", but what is really happening here is a conspiracy to violate "under color of law" the constitutional right to petition for redress of grievances of everyone in this state.

This is an issue that transcends the political spectrum. Every one of us -- left, right, center, and all points in between -- has a dog in this race. All of us may, in good time and for pressing issues, decide in the future to exercise our right to petition for redress of grievance via the initiative petition process. We may want to invite people in other states to come to our assistance. Any limitation on that right is therefore a direct attack on the common good.

The charges will be unsealed at 1:15 PM today (Tuesday, October 2nd), at the county courthouse, 321 W. Park Street. I believe it is on the 7th floor, but it is not known to me at this time whether people will be allowed in for the actual opening of the charges. Even so, there will be a gathering on the ground floor or outside to show solidarity for the people being charged and talk about what can be done about this.

The particular issues these people were involved with were an anti-eminent domain proposal (which I totally supported), and a statutory restriction on state spending (which I did not support).

But the political affiliation of these people isn't actually the issue. Our problem is that this prosecution is part of an on-going process to structurally restrict our political choices. That's why the "culture of corruption" has been so endemic in our politics ever since the Klan took over the state legislature and most county governments in the 1920s. One reason our state is in such a political mess these days is because our choices are so limited.

This prosecution stinks to high heaven of good-old-boy back room machinations. "We'll teach those damn east coast yankees a lesson about coming in here and causing trouble for our back-room deal-making." The law is likely to be ruled unconstitutional -- the case law is pretty clear that for political purposes, your place of residency is the place you "intend" to be your residence. Even so, in the meantime the defendents will be out a large sum of money for the political crime of coming to the assistance of their friends in a different state. If that is going to become a crime, what are we to say about all that out of state money the members of the state legislature and other politicians and candidates for political office report every year?

If you can come to the court house later today, please do. One of the persons being charged is my good friend Paul Jacobs, originally from our neighbor state of Arkansas, whom I have known for 20 years. He is a husband and a father and a grandfather and a good hearted person and even if I disagree with him on a few issues, he is still a friend and a companion on my journey.

Paul Jacobs does not deserve to be the target of political retaliation from corrupt politicians who want to limit the political choices available to all Oklahomans. I consider this attack on him just the same as if it was an attack on me personally, and I invite all to join in that solidarity.