Citizens in Charge

I am writing to provide an update on the CB58-2008 referendum petition drive that started last November after the Howard County Maryland Council approved a 300% zoning increase for the size of grocery stores in Turf Valley.You may recall that citizens gathered over 9,300 signatures to place this legislation on the ballot for voters to decide in the 2010 election.

Here’s a link to a video we made earlier this year.  With this year’s election season over and looking towards defending and expanding the initiative process in 2010 the video is a timely reminder. The ability of citizens to petition their government is a fundamentally important right.

At the recent 2009 State Policy Network Conference, Citizens in Charge Foundation president Paul Jacob gave a presentation on fighting back against political attacks and frivolous prosecution.  His talk focused on his indictment in Oklahoma last year over signature gathering procedures. The main message however, was that when you are under attack politically, tell your story, respond quickly to further attacks and go on offense.

The results are in from the numerous ballot measures that were voted on yesterday.  It looks like about half passed and half did not. Next year should be quite a bit bigger in terms of the number of citizen-initiatives on the ballot.  You can check out the results here.

After today the 2009 ballot season will essentially be over.  There relatively few citizen-led measures on the ballot around the country this year, mostly due to the fact that only 3 states allow them. 2010 will be a different story however, it will be a much busier election season.

It’s election day today in many states around the country. Even though it’s technically an off-election year there are still many initiatives and referenda on ballots in many states. Make sure to get out and vote today on the ballot measures in your state. Here’s Ballotpedia.org’s list of state-wide ballot measures being voted on today.

 

There’s a good commentary from the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association that came out a couple days ago regarding the initiative process and California. It highlights some of the recent attacks on the taxpayers and their ability to use the initiative process in the state.

The initiative process can be used in many different ways and for many different policies, but I don’t think it’s been used very often to create alien visitor policy.

In Denver, Colorado, a man by the name of Jeff Peckman is trying to get a measure on the local ballot to create a commision to teach citizens how to welcome any alien visitors that might show up.

Joe Matthews from the New America Foundation offers his Cliff’s Notes on California Constitutional Convention Initiatives at the Blockbuster Democracy Blog.

Illinois is technically an initiative state, but the process is very difficult.  Illinois citizens do not have the ability to pass their own statutes or repeal statutes passed by the state legislature. The initiative process in Illinois is only advisory. You can read more about the history of I&R in Illinois here.

Maine has 5 different citizen initiated measures on the ballot next Tuesday.  Recent polls show a swing in the level of support for the two tax measures since the last poll earlier in October. You can check out the poll breakdown here.

Also, the group supporting the Taxpayer Bill of Rights measure is calling for an investigation into allegedly improper use of taxpayer money and legislative time.

“The Chief Justice of the California Supreme Court recently declared the state’s government “dysfunctional.”

But Judge Ronald George didn’t bother to tell this to his employers, the people of California. Instead, the judge delivered his speech all the way across the continent, in Massachusetts, at his induction into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.”

Read the rest of Paul Jacob’s most recent Common Sense column here.

Last Sunday the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel ran an editorial blatantly attacking the citizens and their powers of local direct initiative and recall. My response, which is copied below to the ridiculous claims of the Journal-Sentinel were published in today’s edition.

 

Recalls, Direct Legislation Are Vital

Ballotpedia.org is a great online source of information about ballot initiatives, and has been nominated for an Open Web Award for Best Non-Profit Use of Social Media by Mashable.com. Ballotpedia is a free, collaborative, online encyclopedia about elections, ballot measures and access, petitions and ballot law, recalls, school and local ballot measures, and state legislatures.

As the U.S. Supreme Court decides whether signatures on the Referendum-71 petition in Washington state should be made public, a public opinion battle is heating up. Compelling arguments are surfacing on both sides of the issue, with each side calling on the High Court to rule in their favor.