Citizens in Charge Foundation

This vote from Nebraska shows just how little importance is often placed on citizen initiative rights in some state legislatures. A proposal in the Nebraska Senate to make it easier for citizens to put initiatives on the ballot was voted down on Thursday. Most of the senators didn’t even show up for the vote, and the ones who did decided that they apparently don’t really want the average citizen to have any more power.

We put up a new video late yesterday afternoon from this year’s Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, DC. Our theme was “Government Gone Wild”, and we got a great response from those who stopped by our booth to grab some info or a t-shirt.

Government has Gone Wild. Protect yourself.

Let’s go halfway across the pond to Iceland for a little bit of international intitiative & referendum news.

Citizens of Iceland voted this past weekend on a repayment plan to pay back patrons of an Icelandic bank that failed. With the results almost completely tallied I think it’s safe to say that they did not like the repayment plan. It’s back to the drawing board for the government of Iceland on how to repay the debt.

To celebrate Citizens in Charge Foundation President Paul Jacob’s 50th birthday, the staff went bowling during our lunch break today. The rest of the staff tried our best, but the birthday boy was victorious, bowling a solid 144. Who knew our modest president was such a good bowler? It must be all that karma, working for decades for citizen rights. Here’s to a happy 50th birthday Paul.

(LAKE RIDGE, VA) – Citizens in Charge Foundation, a transpartisan national voter rights group focused on the ballot initiative and referendum process, presented Utah State Representative Neil Hansen (D-Ogden) with the March 2010 John Lilburne Award.  Rep. Hansen is being recognized for standing up for equality and fairness in the state’s initiative process and against pending legislation, SB 275, which would give opponents of an initiative an unfair advantage over the initiative’s supporters.

Ok, so they’re only really “robots” in the same way that an ATM is technically a robot. There are no cool lasers or arms. It can’t crush cars or fly (yet), but it might talk to you. I’m not entirely sure about the last point as I haven’t seen one of these things in person yet, but I imagine some sort of audio prompt is possible.

Erik Hayden recently wrote a piece in Miller-McCune outlining our report card on citizen initiative rights, and comparing it to another organizations similar report. Our comprehensive analysis of the intitiative & referendum process in each of the 50 states and Washington, DC shows that threats to these citizen rights exist all across the country.

Citizens around the country are clamoring for more of a voice in their government. They are tired of being dictated to from Washington, DC and state capitols around the country. Populist sentiment is building, and one state that illustrates that quite well is Connecticut. John Woodcock III is the chairman of the Connecticut Citizens for Ballot Initiative, a group that is pushing to bring initiative & referendum rights to the citizens of Connecticut.

Today, Citizens in Charge, a transpartisan national voter rights group focused on the ballot initiative and referendum process, presented testimony urging Maryland legislators to restore the state’s referendum process by passing Senate Bill 240. Additionally, the group suggested amending the bill to give the Board of Elections latitude in verifying the identity of the registered voter.

CPAC 2010 turned out well for Citizens in Charge Foundation. The Government Gone Wild theme was a huge hit; the t-shirts, state grades reports, and information flew off the table at our booth. The government indeed has gone wild, and citizen initiative rights are one of the best ways to get it back under control.

We will likely be ordering more of the Gov’t Gone Wild t-shirts, so make sure to stay tuned to our website for more information.