A CONVERSATION WITH PAUL JACOB

by Steve Fair

I spoke with Paul Jacob this morning for about thirty minutes concerning the charges that have been lodged against him by Oklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmondson. I have never met Mr. Jacob and while I enjoyed the conversation, I was puzzled and remain so as to why he would call me. He said he wanted me to keep my readers informed on why he and two others were charged with conspiracy to defraud the state on the matter of hiring out-of-state petitioners. They have all pled not guilty to the charges. Jacob was involved in the TABOR petition- TAXPAYERS BILL OF RIGHTS PETITION that was struck down because of the allegedly improper way the signatures were gathered.

Jacob claims the petition's organizers had sought, and received, approval for using "immediate" citiznes of Oklahoma from the Oklahoma Secretary of State. The maximum fine for their alleged crime is $25,000, and the maximum sentence is ten years in prison. Mr. Jacob's account of the facts are:

They(the petition leaders) were told that anyone who comes to Oklahoma can declare themself to be a citizen immediately upon arrival. I don't know if that's the case, but I plan to research it and find out. Jacob said the TABOR petition circulators were told that citizenship was immediate BEFORE they started the petition drive using people who were "moving" to Oklahoma. Evidently there is a group of people who follow the petition drives (collecting signature) like migrant workers picking fruit. They get so much per signature and then move to the next state and do it again. Virtually every iniative petition drive uses paid gatherers and many times they use people who "follow" the petitions. It's a common practice, but in Oklahoma two things impede the process- (1) You have to use citizens of Oklahoma to gather the signatures- (2) You have to do it in 90 days. That means you have little or no time for training, so most drives use those who follow the petition "harvest."

Mr. Jacob flatly denied he and the two others were guilty of violating the state law prohibiting using out of state people to gather signatures on a petition. He maintains that Oklahoma has immediate citizenship and they did not use anyone who was not a citizen of Oklahoma.

But who is Paul Jacob? I googled him and here is what Wikipedia says he is:

Paul Jacob (1960 - ) is an activist, organizer, and advocate for legislative term limits, initiative and referendum rights, and limited government in the United States. He writes a weekly column for Townhall.com and his short radio commentary feature, "Common Sense," is syndicated by the Sam Adams Alliance on over 120 radio stations around the U.S. He has held positions with the Libertarian Pary (United States, U.S. Term Limits, Americans for Limited Government, Citizens In Charge and the Sam Adams Foundation. Wikipedia says he was a "draft resister,"who went to prision because he wouldn't register for the draft. Congressman Ron Paul testified on his behalf.

On his Citizens in Charge website, the following is posted:

The indictment of our president, Paul Jacob, by the Oklahoma Attorney General on purely political grounds is unwarranted and wrong. It is no secret that some politicians do not like initiative and referendum. In recent years, state legislatures have attempted to dismantle the initiative and referendum process by imposing pay-per-signature restrictions and residency requirements for petition gatherers. Neither idea makes any sense, but anti-initiative politicians rarely make sense. The attack on Paul Jacob is the first time a politically motivated Attorney General has threatened someone's freedom for helping people petition their government. Paul Jacob is facing a prison sentence for facilitating Oklahomans right to sign a piece of paper. Paul did not collect signatures from outside of Oklahoma to change Oklahoma law. Paul did not sign the petition to change Oklahoma law. Paul assisted a campaign which hired people, some of whom moved to Oklahoma to make petition signing more accessible to Oklahomans. For allowing more Oklahoma citizens to have a say in their government, Paul is being punished. It is obvious what Mr. Edmondson is doing. He may not want Paul Jacob in prison but he wants Paul to think long and hard about ever becoming politically active in Oklahoma again. Mr. Edmondson's intentions are clear - unless you want to spend thousands or millions on a legal defense you had better keep your nose out of Oklahoma politics. Drew Edmondson is nothing more than a school yard bully and we applaud Paul Jacob for standing up to him.

Paul Jacob appears to be a man that believes in what he is doing. He wants less government, and wants the people to have recourse against government if elected officials will not do anything (initiative petition). However, I believe Mr. Jacob and the others in the TABOR petition drive did at least two things wrong:

(1) Not using the grassroots to gather the needed signatures for TABOR. We have in Stephens County a gentlemen who was instrumental in getting TABOR passed in Colorado. George wanted to be involved. He was passionate about it. He would have done anything to be involved. I had a tough time getting him a petiition to circurlate. The State Senator who was spearheading the "petition drive" slowplayed me like an 80 year old man in a par 3 fairway. I asked for a petition repeatedly. I went to the HQ of the petition and found it closed. I was puzzled by their unwillingness to use "willing activists" and save money. There was broad based support for TABOR and an organized grassroots effort could have collected the signatures in the ninty days if they would have only embraced the grassroots and used resources already in place. That's the problem with politics today- no one thinks anyone knows anything except the experts and the consultants.

(2) If the Oklahoma law says that whoever comes to Oklahoma and says they want to stay can immediately be called a citizen, then that should be changed. That's illogical and doesn't make any sense. Most states have a residence requirment and I will be surprized if one doesn't exist for Oklahoma. Using people who are "following" the petition crop may not violate the letter of the law, but in my mind it certainly violates the spirit of it. This all goes back to my point of HOW we do things is as important and WHAT we finally accomplish. The end never justifies the means.

Do I think Drew Edmondson is prosecuting these three people unfairly and unjustly? Absolutely! He has zero principles and hates the iniative petition process. It is selective enforcement at best. Jacob has a website that gives updates on the charges and encourages people to contact Edmondson and their legislators to help him with his case.

I told Paul Jacob I would pray for him and the situation he is in, however I still remind puzzled as to why a Republican legislator would partner with a Liberatian on the TABOR drive and why Jacob would contact me for support.

http://www.freepauljacob.com/