Archives for July 2010

It’s time for the U.S. Conference on Initiative & Referendum and the 2010 Global Forum on Modern Direct Democracy to begin. It all begins this evening with registration and a small reception to welcome speakers, activists, and most importantly citizens, to San Francisco for what is sure to be a great and informative conference.

(LAKE RIDGE, VA) – Today, Citizens in Charge, a national voter rights group focused on the ballot initiative and referendum process, along with U.S. Term Limits, began running a television ad in Springfield, Missouri, blasting Rep. Mike Parson for his attempts in the Missouri Legislature to pass several measures that would “gut” term limits, unconstitutionally block citizens from petitioning to place issues on the ballot and make it impossible for citizens to speak with most legislators without first registering as lobbyists.

 

The following alert has been circulating amongst good-government groups in Massachusetts. If you live in Massachusetts, please contact your legislators and tell them to vote no on SB 23 / HB 3537:

UPDATE: The press conference will now be held at Hotel Bijou. The address is 111 Mason Street, San Francisco, CA 94102.

John Hickenlooper, Scott McInnis and Dan Maes are all currently running for governor in Colorado. Hickenlooper is the current Democrat Mayor of Denver, McInnis is a former Republican member of Congress from Colorado, and Maes is a business manager who is also running on the Republican ticket.

Yesterday all three were at gubernatorial candidate forum and the topic of ballot initiatives and petition rights came up. Here is what they had to say:

Many have waited to see which side the California Democratic Party would stand on the controversial Proposition 19 which will appear on the November ballot. The party decided to take a neutral approach and not endorse either side last Sunday. Many cite the reason for this stance as trying not to contradict the party’s current candidates Jerry Brown and Barbara Boxer, who have come out and made a stance in opposition to the measure.

(LAKE RIDGE, VA) – Today, Citizens in Charge, a national voter rights group focused on the ballot initiative and referendum process, began running a television ad on FOX News in Tulsa and Oklahoma City to educate the public about State Senator Randy Brogdon’s long-standing and effective support for the citizen initiative rights of Oklahomans.

After months of litigation surrounding allegations of signature fraud, the Maryland Court of Appeals has ruled that the Arundel Mills Slots Referendum will go on the Anne Arundel County ballot in November.

9 Days to Go

Wed, Jul 21 2010 by Staff

Only 9 days to go until the start of the U.S. Conference on I&R and the 2010 Global Forum on Modern Direct Democracy, have you registered yet to attend for free?

Join hundreds of citizens from across the US and around the world in San Francisco to work towards greater citizen initiative rights.

Will you join your fellow citizens in working to protect these important rights guaranteed to us by the First Amendment? Or will you allow yourself to be silenced?

In Nevada members of the grassroots group Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada (PLAN) announced that the ballot initiative the group sponsored has hit a financial brick wall. The initiative backed by PLAN has failed to reach the 2010 ballot after securing only 66,000 of the 97,002 signatures they needed.

Announcing Media Row at the U.S. Conference on I&R and 2010 Global Forum on Modern Direct Democracy

The Lilburne Award for the month of July has been given to two litigators from Missouri, Dale Doerhoff and Heidi Doerhoff Vollet. Both were honored for their outstanding advocacy on behalf of the Humane Society of Missouri in a court case dealing with the state’s initiative & referendum process. For more information about the award recipients and case check out the press release here.