Citizens in Charge

Check it out.

Oklahoma’s legislature wrapped up its 2011 legislative session Friday, and while the state still has arguably the toughest petition process in the nation, it didn’t get any tougher this year.

State Senator Kevin Lundberg will join our panel of other initiative rights experts this Thursday, May 26th in Denver.

The event, co-hosted by Citizens in Charge Foundation, Independence Institute and the Humane Society of the United States, has a great transpartisan and experienced panel lined up to talk about the attacks on Colorado’s citizen initiative process.

Independence Institute president Jon Caldera who was originally slated to be part of the panel discussion will now give a short welcome speech and introduce keynote speakers John Fund of the Wall Street Journal, and Democratic Party consultant Joe Trippi.

If you regularly follow our newswire and blog you’d know that in communities around the country citizens hate red-light cameras. Numerous petition campaigns and ballot initiatives have attempted to get rid of them, and most have been successful.

In yesterday’s Common Sense article, Paul Jacob discusses an interesting story out of Washington regarding the red-light camera issue there:

We are happy to announce that longtime Democratic Party consultant Joe Trippi will be one of the keynote speakers, along with John Fund of The Wall Street Journal, at next week’s event in Denver, CO.

Additionally, election and campaign finance law expert Shayne Madsen has been added to the panel discussion lineup. Madsen brings years of experience working in election law to our already outstanding group of panelists.

If you are planning to attend but have not RSVP’d yet please do so. Information on the event is posted on the flyer below. Hope to see you there!

(LAKE RIDGE, VA) – Citizens in Charge Foundation, a national voter rights group focused on the ballot initiative and referendum process, presented Thad Tecza, a senior instructor emeritus in political science at the University of Colorado, with the May 2011 John Lilburne Award for his efforts during this year’s legislative session to protect Colorado’s initiative process.

“Professor Tecza has been a huge asset to the citizen initiative rights movement in Colorado,” said Citizens in Charge Foundation President Paul Jacob. “His work in speaking out against legislative attacks on the process and helping to mobilize people at the grassroots helped defeat SCR-1, a major negative change proposed by legislators.”

An interesting story out of Montana:

Today we created our new Citizens in Charge Facebook page. The Citizens in Charge Foundation group is scheduled to be archived by Facebook for reasons only Mark Zuckerberg knows. So, before it disappears please head over to our new page an “like” it. It will be the same as our old page, with regular news updates, pictures, and event information.

“LIKE” us HERE.

If you’re in Colorado May 26th, head over to the University Club in Denver to check out a great transpartisan discussion on recent attempts by Colorado politicians to destroy the state initiative process. Come find out what’s going on and how you can help stop it.

For a PDF of the event flyer click here.

 

 

 

UPDATE: The Durango Herald reports today that SCR 1 failed to make it out of the legislature before the end of the session. So the good news for the time being is that politicians have not succeeded in making it more difficult for Colorado citizens to amend their state constitution. There is still the possibility that supporters of SCR 1 will try and get the measure on the ballot through the petition process, however.

Yesterday on a party-line vote, Democrats in the California Senate passed SB 448, a bill that will force petition circulators to wear huge badges on their chest while collecting signatures. You can read more about that here. The bill now moves on to the state assembly, where hopefully it will be voted down.

From San Jose Mercury News:

If you haven’t already make sure to check out our quick video of Nebraska citizen activist Kent Bernbeck receiving the April 2011 Lilburne Award from Citizens in Charge Foundation President Paul Jacob.

It seems the excitement in the UK never ends. Last week? Royal wedding. This week? Their first national referendum vote in nearly 4 decades.

The big referendum will determine what style of elections they use to elect members of parliament. From The Independent:

Forty million people will get the chance to support an historic change to the British voting system today.

The Massachusetts General Court [the state legislature] Joint Committee on the Judiciary recommended Monday that two bills aimed at doubling the signature requirements for ballot initiatives ought not to pass. H 1830, sponsored by Rep. Denise Provost, was heard by the committee on March 13; and S 13, sponsored by Sen. Stanley Rosenberg, was heard April 14.

Citizens in Charge President Paul Jacob has a piece up today on Fox & Hounds, a California political blog, discussing recent legislation that would force petition signers to wear a badge while gathering signatures, a First Amendment right: