Nevada
A District Court lawsuit has been filed by groups aimed at stopping an anti-abortion petition from appearing on the election ballot.
“We hope the court will do the right thing and reject the latest attempt to insert the government into personal, private medical decisions Nevada women and families make every day,” said Elisa Cafferata, president and chief executive officer of Nevada Advocates for Planned Parenthood Affiliates.
The lawsuit was filed in Carson City on Tuesday by the Planned Parenthood Federation and the American Civil Liberties Union.
As early voting began today, the negative back-and-forth continued in the special recall election for the Ward 6 spot on the Las Vegas City Council, featuring incumbent Steve Ross and his challenger, Byron Goynes.
Two early voting centers have been operating today for the special election, which Ross claims is being spurred by car dealer Joe Scala, who was denied a waiver to continue operating a dealership in Centennial Hills, which is in Ross’ ward.
Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval has signed Assembly Bills 81 and 82, and Senate Bill 133 into law, making several important changes to the petition process both good and bad.
In February of this year Citizens in Charge Foundation gave Boulder City, Nevada council member Linda Strickland the Lilburne Award for her work defending local citizens from frivolous lawsuits filed against them by their own city government. The city doesn’t seem to appreciate the citizens actually utilizing their First Amendment initiative rights.
This news article in Las Vegas City Life is from last month but provides a bit of an update on the situation in Boulder City:
A District Court judge has indicated there may be enough valid signatures on an ballot initiative petition seeking a special tax for a $500 million sports-entertainment arena on the Las Vegas Strip. Proceeds from the tax would finance bonds to build the 27,000-seat arena. Judge Todd Russell ordered attorneys to submit closing briefs to determine if there are too many defects with the petition to disqualify the question from being placed on the 2012 Nevada election ballot.
The cause of citizen control of government won a big victory last Friday in little Boulder City, Nevada, as a judge ruled in favor of citizens and against the heavy-handed legal tactics the city government used in filing numerous lawsuits designed to threaten and intimidate citizens petitioning their government. 
Bubbling tension over Boulder City’s decision to sue the petitioners of several ballot questions on November’s ballot inspired about 30 residents to march on the front steps of City Hall on Tuesday. The demonstrators held neon-colored signs that expressed their frustration. Some examples: “R.I.P. First Amendment Rights,” “Don’t Silence the People” and “Don’t Sue Me.”
You may recall our previous stories and articles on the events transpiring in Boulder City, Nevada. Citizens there have been repeatedly sued by their own city council…for the horrible act of collecting signatures and putting measures on the ballot for a vote.
Citizens decided to take to the streets to make their displeasure known:
Citizens in Charge Foundation and Citizens in Charge want to set the record straight with regards to our February 2011 Lilburne Award Winners: Tracy and Linda Strickland.
It seems there was some confusion on the part of one Boulder City resident about the nature of the award and how and why we give it. You can view his blog post here.
Today, Citizens in Charge Foundation president Paul Jacob sent the following letter to the author of the blog post:
Mr. Stubbs,
The Nevada Senate passed a resolution Thursday rejecting an initiative petition to create a taxing district for a sports arena on the Las Vegas Strip, sending the measure to the 2012 ballot. Senate Concurrent Resolution 4 was approved on a voice vote and now goes to the Assembly, though with the Senate’s action, the vote there is moot.
Liberal activists and labor leaders have spent the early days of the legislative session warning lawmakers they would pursue a ballot initiative to raise taxes if the Legislature fails to act on its own. But conservative activists aren’t standing idly by in the face of those threats. “We can’t let Danny Thompson have the ballet to himself,” Republican operative Robert Uithoven said of the Nevada AFL-CIO boss who has talked about using a ballot initiative for an end run around the Legislature. Conservatives are looking to revive the measure that would require a two-thirds vote of the people to pass any initiative petition to raise taxes. Uithoven helped organize a similar effort in 2008.
Boulder City, Nevada officials seem to think repeatedly suing their own citizens is a good idea. In his weekly Townhall column on Sunday, Paul Jacob discusses the situation:
Public officials cannot simply throw dissenters into a gulag and govern by decree. But the city governors in Boulder City, Nevada, have found the next best thing.
Sue the people.
Regularly and repeatedly.
As a method of effectuating an oligarchy, what could be more American?
Boulder City’s lawsuit against five citizens who circulated a petition for a ballot question for November’s election will move forward after District Court Judge Jerome Tao ruled Thursday the defendants weren’t immune from the city’s litigation. The city sued the petitioners Nov. 24 to challenge the legality of the ordinance, which requires the city to receive approval from voters before going into debt $1 million or more. It passed with 58 percent of the vote on Nov. 2.
The Boulder City Council this week approved four ballot questions for the next municipal election and rejected three others in a meeting that sparked heated debate over how ballot initiatives are handled. A question to revise the city’s charter to reduce the minimum residency requirement for candidates running for City Council passed unanimously. The requirement would be reduced from two years, set when the charter was established in 1960, to 30 days, the minimum required by state law.