Third Party Watch

In case you don’t know who Paul Jacob is, we’ll let Wiki tell the tale:

Paul Jacob is an activist, organizer, and advocate for legislative term limits, initiative and referendum rights, and limited government in the United States. He writes a weekly column for Townhall.com and his short radio commentary feature, “Common Sense,” is syndicated by the Sam Adams Alliance on over 120 radio stations around the U.S. He has held positions with the Libertarian Party (United States), U.S. Term Limits, Americans for Limited Government, Citizens In Charge and the Sam Adams Foundation.

If you aren’t aware of his current legal predicament, Wiki has the short version available:

In 2005 and 2006, Jacob worked with an Oklahoma group, Oklahomans in Action, to place on the ballot an initiative, Stop Overspending, one of several measures run in different states known as the Taxpayer Bill of Rights, or TaBOR. Among the paid petitioners used were some that had come to Oklahoma from other states to work on the drive. On October 2, 2007, Jacob was formally indicted in Oklahoma on a charge of conspiracy to defraud the state on the matter of hiring out-of-state petitioners. Jacob claims the petition’s organizers had sought, and received, approval for this from the Oklahoma Secretary of State. The maximum fine for their alleged crime is $25,000, and the maximum sentence is ten years in prison. Jacob was indicted with two others in the case, and each pleaded not guilty. A website—FreePaulJacob.com—was put up in Jacob’s defense.

Here’s the lastest update on his case (from Facebook):

Thanks to everyone who was able to join us in Oklahoma City yesterday for the re-arraignment of the Oklahoma 3! We had about 30 supporters at the Oklahoma County Courthouse, carrying signs with slogans such as “Free the OK 3,” “What Happened to the Constitution?,” “Protect Our Right to Petition,” “Get a Clue, Drew!” and “Ayatollah Edmondson says Thou Shalt Not Petition Thy Governent.”

The press conference attracted a crowd of people and numerous members of the media.

“We, the Oklahoma 3, are innocent,” Jacob told the group. “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…

“Come what may, against any force or threat, I will continue to work to protect and expand the rights of citizens to control their government, so that we may never face the day when it is the other way around, with government utterly controlling citizens,” he added.

State Sen. Randy Brogdon spoke at the press conference, saying that Monday should be marked as a “day of infamy” in Oklahoma and that Carpenter, Jacob, and Susan Johnson “are guilty of nothing more than to petition their government.”

Carpenter told the crowd that he was “the target of an angry and vengeful government, determined to tell the people of Oklahoma, ‘don¹t you dare get between the government and your money.’”

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.

Charlie Meadows, Chairman of Oklahoma Conservative PAC, told the crowd that professionals who help run petition drives in Oklahoma are helping Oklahomans to exercise their rights—rights that most working people in Oklahoma would be unable to exercise on their own. He objected to Attorney General Drew Edmondson’s attempts to limit who he can ask for help in protecting his rights.

Also speaking at the press conference in support of the Oklahoma 3 were State Rep. Mike Reynolds and Stuart Jolly, state director of Americans for Prosperity.

We got very positive coverage on the local Fox affiliate’s 6 o’clock news. Coverage in The Journal Record was quite favorable. The Tulsa World gave more space to Edmondson’s defense against charges of political motivations than they did to the Oklahoma 3’s position.

You can view part of the press conference on the YouTube below:

This entry was posted by Stephen Gordon on Wednesday, January 30th, 2008 at 5:58 pm and is filed under News, Libertarian Party. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.