National
Citizens in Charge Foundation — led by Paul Jacob, best known as leader of the term limits movement and as a member of the now free Oklahoma 3 — is building what, in my experience, appears to be the first truly national organizing network around initiative and referendum.
As Americans rise up all across the country to challenge a political elite that many believe does not listen to them, it is important to consider the tools that people in many states have employed to directly affect change: the petition.
A day before the event, organizers said a mere 20,000 or so folks had registered for Saturday’s amazing 9/12 march on Washington to protest out-of-control government. What they got was hundreds of thousands of intensely patriotic people who came to the nation’s capitol to yell “Stop!”
Last week we blogged about Jeff Jacoby’s article in the Boston Globe discussing comments made about the initiative process by the chief justice of the California Supreme Court.
I wrote a letter to the editor in the Sunday edition of the Boston Globe responding to Jacoby’s article, you can check it out here.
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.
Recently there have been calls to reduce the size of the Pennsylvania State Legislature as a way to trim the budget and reduce government spending. Earlier this week, Citizens in Charge Foundation president Paul Jacob addressed the issue in Pennsylvania in one of his Common Sense articles. You can read the article here.
After U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy issued a temporary block on the release of Washington petition signers names on Monday, the full court ruled 8-1 on Tuesday to reaffirm Justice Kennedy’s order.
If you would like to read more about the decision you can check out the article here.
Last week, I traveled to Pierce County, Washington, to take part in an event entitled “The Fight for Democracy in Pierce County,” which was held at the University of Puget Sound. The forum was set up by folks with No Rigging the System, a group campaigning to defeat three measures on the county ballot this November 3rd.
Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy has temporarily blocked Washington state officials from releasing the names of people who signed a ballot measure on gay rights. Kennedy’s ruling Monday temporarily blocks a federal appeals court ruling last week that ordered the release of the names. Kennedy said his order would remain in effect while he considers a request by a pro-marriage group that asked him to reverse the appeals court ruling.
We’ve previously blogged about the battle in Washington state over whether or not the state government should release the personal information of petition signers to the public. The fight continues.
Yesterday, a state superior judge in Washington ordered Secretary of State Sam Reed to keep the petition signer information private. This move essentially blocks the Secretary of State from releasing the names until the federal case is resolved in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.
Nevada is one of the the 26 states in the US that has some form of statewide initiative & referendum rights. The process in the state has been used for many different issues over the years. To read more about the process in Nevada you can check it out here.
The California Independent Voter Network is a non-profit group dedicated to engaging non-partisan voters in the political process. The group also works on public policy and stimulating public dialogue.
The island paradise of Hawaii may have beautiful sandy beaches and clear blue water, but it does not have initiative and referendum rights. Check out a brief history of I&R in Hawaii here.
Oftentimes state governments are not fond of the initiative and referendum process. The state of Oregon is no exception, and they recently hired investigators to try and find fraud and wrong-doing amongst petitioners gathering signatures to block a recent tax increase.
Paul Jacob’s recent Common Sense article talks about the investigations and what they discovered. You can check out the article here.
The Tea Party protests against the growth of government and its ever-increasing power would be well served by the initiative and referendum process, according to a new article today at Big Government. No other process gives citizens such control over their government.
Big Government is a new website launched by Andrew Breitbart.