The Oklahoma indictment against Paul Jacob, Susan Johnson, and Rick Carpenter, for allegedly conspiring to bring out-of-staters to circulate an initiative petition in Oklahoma in 2006, has been dismissed. However, it is likely to be re-filed. The original indictment apparently suffered from a legal flaw relating to the composition of multi-county grand juries. If there is to be a new indictment, it will be brought directly by Oklahoma’s Democratic Attorney General, Drew Edmondson.
The indictment will be weak. See this editorial in the Muskogee Phoenix of October 17, 2007, which makes the point that past initiatives in Oklahoma have used out-of-state petitioners, and that the Oklahoma Supreme Court seemed to overlook that in the past.
Petitioners should be allowed to petition the government. They allow out of state people to work against them and should be allowed the same right. Drew should be recalled and put someone in the office that knows the law.