Archives for April 2011

Some commentary from the Kansas City Business Journal on the Voter Protection Alliance and the constitutional amendment they proposed yesterday:

Today in Missouri, the Voter Protection Alliance filed a constitutional amendment with the state that will better protect initiatives approved at the ballot box by voters. Citizens in Charge, along with the Humane Society and numerous other political groups, signed on to endorse this change to the state’s constitution. From the group’s press release:

Oklahoma already has one of the nation’s toughest petition processes: state lawmakers have suceeeded in making the process so hard that few citizen initiatives ever make the ballot. One citizen initiative, State Question 744 from the 2010 ballot, apparently has the legislature running scared.

Who's Got A Fever? Citizens.

Tue, Apr 12 2011 by Staff

Recall Fever is sweeping the nation, Paul Jacob explains in today’s edition of Common Sense:

Voters across the country do not like red-light cameras. At all. In Mukilteo, WA voters voiced their disapproval for the cameras overwhelmingly, and it seems to have swayed the city council into eventually listening:

Really? Is it that easy?

Wed, Apr 6 2011 by Staff

An editorial in the Boston Globe wonders if it’s too easy for citizen initiatives to make it onto the ballot in Massachusetts. Lawmakers in the state are trying to raise the number of signatures needed by citizens:

This morning I testified at the California state capitol before the Public Safety Committee against SB 168 a bill aimed at banning payment per signature for petition circulators. Here is a clip about how the hearing went from the capitol grounds. 

Wisconsin Recall Update

Tue, Apr 5 2011 by Staff

Tensions are still high in Wisconsin over Governor Scott Walker’s budget reform bill. Recall efforts against both Republicans and Democrats are in full swing. wi cap

The group running the campaign to recall Democrat Senator Robert Wirch says they have collected enough signatures to get it onto the ballot. Senator Wirch was one of the 14 Democrat state senators who fled the state during the budget battle earlier this year.

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. 
strickland

We have long seen the value of protecting the right to petition, but now special interests and lawmakers have come around, too!

[Click to Watch!]

april fools

Ok, maybe not.