Citizens in Charge

The president of a Washington state property rights group endorsed a YES vote on the pro-initiative Initiative 517 and called charges from opponents that the measure violates the property rights of businesses: “bogus.”

Citizens Alliance for Property Rights President Preston Drew, in a letter to the Snoqualmie Valley Record, wrote:

“I sit on the board of Washington’s largest and most active property rights organization. Opponents have attacked the initiative because they claim it allegedly violates property rights. This is bogus. No one cares more about property rights than I do. But I’m also a huge supporter of the initiative process. There’s no conflict between the two. Courts have ruled that petitioning in places open to the public is guaranteed by the First Amendment. I-517 doesn’t change that.”

I-517 certainly provides protection from harassment for those who circulate or sign petitions, but it doesn’t change current law and court precedent regarding petitioning on private property, including public property leading to businesses. But that fact hasn’t stopped the opponents of I-517 from arguing in the state’s voter pamphlet that if 517 passed, “Business owners could not stop petitioners from blocking a business.”

“I am an early and strong supporter of Initiative 517, which seeks to protect the initiative process,” Mr. Drew wrote. “It guarantees a vote on qualified initiatives, extends time to collect signatures, and stops bullying of people participating in the process.”


Snoqualmie Valley Record: Letters / Support for ‘ordinary folks’ in initiative process
http://www.valleyrecord.com/opinion/letters/225836721.html