The State vs. Paul Jacob, Again
Paul Jacob, political reformer, libertarian and prominent term-limit activist, is in major legal trouble again. As some readers may know, in the early 1980s Jacob spent five and a half months in prison for resisting draft registration and thus violating the Selective Service Act – the longest prison term for any draft resister since Vietnam. Now he’s being persecuted for another non-crime: He’s charged with "conspiracy to defraud the state" of Oklahoma.
What did he do? Allegedly, he brought in petitioners from out of state to help in getting a Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights on the ballot. Such a reform would subject all increases in the overall state-spending rate to a democratic vote. The maximum penalty for having unauthorized citizens from other states helping in the petitioning process is 10 years and a $25,000 fine. Oklahoma is one of only eight states with such a law on the books or about to go into effect.
Paul is currently being charged in federal court. The law was upheld a couple months ago by an Oklahoma federal district court in a written decision that claimed that no one had ever been criminally prosecuted under this statute, nor were there pending prosecutions. The case has since been appealed to the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals.
“I did nothing wrong, unless trying to help Oklahoma citizens place a measure on the ballot for a vote of the people has now become a crime,” said Jacob, who argues that the law "is unconstitutional and should be struck down, thus rendering this whole charade moot." Indeed, even the district court determined that the statute placed "a significant burden on First Amendment rights" – and then ruled that the statute nevertheless survived the court’s "strict scrutiny." Now that there’s a prosecution in the pipeline, however, perhaps more scrutiny would be warranted.
In any event, Jacob emphasizes that regardless of the constitutional angle, he and his petitioners "sought to understand and abide by the statute as it was written."
In an interview with Reason, he elaborated on this, saying that his petitioning company "was told by people with the state election board and secretary of state that [the residency] requirement could be met by anyone who moved to Oklahoma and declared themselves a resident. There was no requirement they live the rest of their days in Oklahoma. . . . I don’t know of any agency you can go to to have them declare you a resident. If the petitioner declares themselves a resident and lists an Oklahoma address, then that’s a resident.
"I asked for any court precedents, as often times no matter what the law says as written or what an official tells you, you want to know what judges have up their sleeve. There was a recent case [involving a petition regarding a ban on cockfighting] in which the petition was alleged to have been circulated by people who were not Oklahoma residents. The court basically upheld the signatures collected by every one of those people, even people they could not find."
In his case, however, they disputed his signatures in what "was the most well-funded challenge [he’d] ever heard of." In considering the vague statute, the court ruled that "the definition of residency was living in Oklahoma, having a domicile, and intending to remain in Oklahoma permanently."
If he’s incarcerated, this would be the second time a Constitutionally deficient statute was used to make a political prisoner of this man.
Supporters can follow the case at his website: http://www.freepauljacob.com/. There you can find out how to help, by writing letters or donating to his defense fund. You can also listen to Scott Horton’s interview with Paul on Antiwar Radio. Paul has been a tireless worker for liberty. We need to repay the favor.
abraham
October 28th, 2007 at 8:54 am
Personally, I greatly dislike mercenaries coming in from other states or even other counties to help effect issues in my own backyard.
Why can’t Paul and others who hire outside workers to push campaign issues and gather signatures simply find people in the jurisdiction where the petition is relevant?
The Constitution notwithstanding, it’s an ugly practice and I don’t like it. Local government should be conducted by The People, not hired mercenaries who are paid by the number of names they collect to proselytize issues about which they know little and probably about which they care even less.
Sympathizer
October 28th, 2007 at 7:31 pm
With three people facing ten years in jail for committing democracy…you want to complain about how you don’t like “mercenary” petitioners?
Do you get out much? Would it be possible for you to be more self-absorbed?
Jim Davidson
October 29th, 2007 at 3:07 am
Abraham wrote, “Local government should be conducted by The People,” which by itself is a stunning commitment to the soviet socialist republic. Who are “The People” to be capitalized, like God? Is the voice of the people the voice of God, or just the voice of a bunch of folks?
I say that the people of Oklahoma are well served by professional petition gatherers who are able to come quickly to work in an urgent situation. Time was of the essence in the choice to hire the workers. Local individuals are often not available who have comparable training, which is why the United States has no internal borders. Or didn’t used to.
The Oklahoma government has many standards for residency. The applicable standard for residency to be a voter, and, obviously, a vote petition gatherer, is to be living in Oklahoma. There is no time limit. Presumably paying homage to the tradition of the Sooners who came to Oklahoma even before it was opened for colonization (and the theft of Indian territories), the Oklahoma government doesn’t mind if a voter has just moved in. But, they won’t give the lower resident fee for going to college, even so, until a year later, if then, depending on a barrage of quality checks and determinations. And you have to suffer in Oklahoma for six months if you want a divorce there.
Who are you, Abraham, to say that “The People” don’t include anyone from Kansas, Arkansas, Texas, nor Colorado? “The People” are people, wherever they are, however small. They aren’t unpersons just because they weren’t born in your neighborhood.
Get out more? I don’t know. Radical communists should stay in more, and contemplate the evil of their ways at Bryan Caplan’s Museum of Communism.
Here, Abraham, is a sample of what “The People” have done:
http://www.gmu.edu/departments/economics/bcaplan/museum/faqframe.htm
“In the early Stalin years, the camp populations were roughly stable, but by 1930 by most estimates the number had skyrocketed to 1,000,000 inmates. But the growth era of the camps was only beginning: by 1940 the concentration camps contained about 10,000,000 souls, while camp conditions grew ever worse. The prison population declined and living conditions improved considerably after Stalin’s death, but the slave labor camps persisted into the Gorbachev years.”
So much for The People, comrade.
richard vajs
October 29th, 2007 at 4:51 am
If, as a minority party, you try to play the game by the majority partys’ rules, you will soon find that you are allowed one out per inning while they will get five.
Sean
October 29th, 2007 at 8:56 am
So if someone is living in Oklahoma, has a domicile, but intends to retire in 10 years and move to Florida, that person is not a resident of Oklahoma?
Scott Bieser
October 29th, 2007 at 9:08 am
Apparently, then, if you move to Oklahoma and vote, you can never leave. If in a few years later take a better paying job in Dallas or St. Louis or Chicago, then you can be arrested for election fraud.
Abraham, it wasn’t mentioned in this particular article but elsewhere it was reported that the TBOR petitioners were physically harassed by goons working for the state, and these goons would also go into supermarkets where the petitioners were out front working and lie to the managers about the petitioners supposedly strong-arming shoppers. Not many people are able or willing to work under such conditions.
Marycatherine Barton
October 29th, 2007 at 10:06 am
My hats off to professional petitioners. What a difficult job for the right of ballot consideration, a noble purpose. You are a resident of a state as long as you reside there, in a domicile of some sort that can prevent the resident from being thought of as homeless, and it does not matter how long the resident plans to stay. What! This stupid judge wants to look into a person’s mind and learn intent.
abraham
October 29th, 2007 at 10:39 pm
Jim,
I hate to break it to you, but the Constitution begins with, “We The People”. You’ve been pledging an oath to a Communist manifesto and you didn’t even know it.
As for the rest of your unbelievably hystericaly screed, I suppose you don’t believe in the concept of States rights? What right does a citizen of one state have trying to effect the outcome of how the people in another state will have to live? There’s a reason we have states, or what’s left of them since the federal government has been usurping more and more state rights since the beginning of the Union.
It sounds like you’re the one who has a rather “pink” view of how our system of government works. And you can blow that concentration camp bulls**t out your ass.
abraham
October 29th, 2007 at 10:44 pm
I’ll add that of course I think Paul Jacob is getting a raw deal. I’m not sure why everyone is getting their panties all wadded up in a bunch over my comments. Unless he has sh**ty lawyers, he’s not getting 10 years, whether the law is unconstitutional or not. My guess is whatever conviction he gets will eventually be over-turned, if sanity reigns. I am certainly against the government’s over-the-top prosecution.
But I certainly disagree with his practices.
John Powers
October 30th, 2007 at 1:26 pm
“What right does a citizen of one state have trying to effect the outcome of how the people in another state will have to live?”
I know that one, it is the First Amendment guaranteeing the Right to Petition to all people, not just the ones who are your political allies.
JBP
abraham
October 31st, 2007 at 8:16 am
I agree, if the issue is a universal one affecting all Americans. But are you saying you have a right to come to my county and petition for a landfill to be built next to my property if I don’t want it? Perhaps the 1st Amendment gives you the right to do that, but it still makes you a scumbag.
The problem with some people is that they think in such absolutist terms they miss the broader and more important issue.
John Powers
October 31st, 2007 at 1:09 pm
You may not like it, but it is still the First Amendment. That Amendment applies to “scumbags” just like it does to people trying to limit taxes and encourage good government.
The broad and important issue is the State abusing the First Amendment. It is next to impossible for the taxpayers to have any influence when the the courts are used as a hammer against the taxpayers of this country.
JBP
abraham
October 31st, 2007 at 7:35 pm
Hi John.
You’re right, of course, but you’re also an absolutist.
Tell me where you live. I’d like to come to your city and get someone to start a petition to declare Friday to be Free Cake and Pie Day. Every citizen, every Friday, will get a free cake and a pie, whether they want it or not. The cost for all these fine desserts will of course be added to your tax bill. I’ll lobby the hell out of this and spend whatever it takes to get it passed.
Now, add lots of money from a very determined out of state capitalist (perhaps backed by foreign funding) and replace “Free Pie and Cake Day” with something even less desirable, and then explain to me how that guy’s 1st Amendment rights trump your right to be free from silly people with silly ideas who don’t have to live with the consequences.
Why must poeople think in black and white? Nature itself is shades of gray. Why is your thought process so unnatural?
John Powers
November 1st, 2007 at 5:46 am
Yes Abraham,
You are not alone in wanting such a thing. Petty tyrants everywhere want to be free of citizen involvement with elections. That is why we have the First Amendment, specifically to counter you and politicians everywhere who want to rule without check from citizens.
JBP
abraham
November 2nd, 2007 at 5:27 am
You’re a hysteric, John. You aren’t even listening to what I’m saying. You’re just ranting nonsense at this point.
Bye.