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What if I told you that there is an effect underway by Democrats inside of the State Capitol to make it more difficult and expensive to qualify ballot measures?  Would you be shocked?  Would it really surprise you that a legislature that has its own ability to place measures on the ballot (like the taxes that were rejected by voters last May) doesn’t want the people to have that same power?

Sometimes we in Kansas like to poke fun at our neighbors to the south in Oklahoma. I’m sure they do the same to us.

But one way in which Oklahoma has Kansas beat is in Oklahoma citizens’ ability to petition their government through the process of initiative and referendum.

On June 3, the Massachusetts Joint Committee on Election Laws held a hearing on three bills to make it more difficult for initiatives to get on the ballot. As it usual in Massachusetts, the committee did not take any action on the hearing day itself.

ballotboxnews.com is from the Citizens in Charge Foundation. Its president is Paul Jacob.

Read the story at Block Buster Democracy

List: Citizen Empowerment

Thu, Apr 30 2009 — Source: Reason Magazine

Paul Jacob, president of the Citizens in Charge Foundation, did jail time in the 1980s for refusing to register for the draft. Since then he’s been working to curb politicians’ power via term limits. Last year he was indicted for allegedly violating Oklahoma rules barring nonresidents from circulating ballot petitions. A federal appeals court struck down those rules in December. In February reason asked Jacob to list three barriers to citizen participation in politics.

1.) Initiatives, referenda, and recalls ar…

OKLAHOMA CITY ””

A pair of Oklahoma lawmakers have received an award from a national voter rights group focused on the initiative and referendum process.

The Virginia-based Citizens in Charge Foundation on Tuesday named state Sen. Randy Brogdon and Rep. Randy Terrill as the March 2009 recipients of the John Lilburne Award….

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The Virginia-based group Citizens in Charge has given an award this month to Oklahoma Senator Randy Brogdon (R-Owasso) and Representative Randy Terrill (R-Moore) for two bills and a resolution aimed at making Oklahoma’s initiative petition laws less onerous.

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) ”” A pair of Oklahoma lawmakers have received an award from a national voter rights group focused on the initiative and referendum process.

The Virginia-based Citizens in Charge Foundation on Tuesday named state Sen. Randy Brogdon and Rep. Randy Terrill as the March 2009 recipients of the John Lilburne Award.

The two state legislators were recognized for their efforts to make it easier for Oklahomans to place state questions on the ballot.(MORE)

Justice Done--Sort Of

Mon, Mar 2 2009 — Source: Forbes.com

In 2007 Paul Jacob, an anti-big-government grassroots activist, and two colleagues were indicted by the state of Oklahoma. Their crime? They had hired people who were not Oklahoma citizens to gather petition signatures for a referendum to impose spending limits on Oklahoma’s profligate legislators. State law said that only residents could pass out petitions, but Jacobs had actually spoken with officials before the petition drive and been assured that as long as signature-gatherers were staying in the state—even if only temporarily—they could carry out their tasks.

CPAC Interview: Paul Jacob

Sat, Feb 28 2009 — Source: HotAir.com

One of the mostly-unsung heroes of grassroots conservatism is Paul Jacob. He has spent his life helping conservatives organize against the reach of government through grassroots movements, mostly through the initiative process where applicable. I talk to Paul about how that almost landed him in prison in Oklahoma for ten years, and how conservatives and libertarians need to push for change through local and state initiatives ”” and why that challenges the entrenched powers in the legislatures: (VIDEO)