Top state court slams drive for TABOR petition as fraud

By Michael McNutt

Published: December 13, 2006

The "mass involvement” of people from out of state to get signatures on a taxpayer bill of rights proposal resulted in illegal activities, according to an opinion Tuesday by the Oklahoma Supreme Court.

Hiring at least 60 out-of-state petition circulators established "a pervasive pattern of wrongdoing and fraud” by National Voter Outreach, according to the opinion written by Chief Justice Joseph Watt.

The proposal to limit state government, commonly called TABOR for taxpayer bill of rights, was backed by Oklahomans in Action, headed by Rick Carpenter, a political consultant from Tulsa.

Carpenter's group hired National Voter Outreach to handle the drive to get signatures.

Susan Johnson, president of National Voter Outreach, denied any wrongdoing.

She said she followed Oklahoma law and checked with Oklahoma state officials on residency requirements for circulators.

She said she was told residents were defined as anyone coming into the state, even if it meant only for the duration of the petition drive.

‘Honest intent'

The high court's opinion states that to circulate petitions, a person must be a resident who has an "honest intent to make a place one's residence or domicile.”

Johnson said her organization, based in Ludington, Mich., will follow the high court's definition.

"You can be sure NVO operates in the open and in integrity,” she said. "These actions are considered ‘illegal' in hindsight. Not even public officials understood the law as now defined by the court.

"With this now clear understanding of the rules, NVO will no longer bring in any outside petitioners, but will follow the law as finally defined by the court,” Johnson said.

The petition, which had 299,029 signatures, needed 219,564 to be put on last month's general election ballot

. But problems were found with about 80,000 signatures – 57,850 of which were collected by out-of-state circulators, according to the 30-page opinion. As a result, the petition effort failed by at least 638 signatures.

"Nothing less than the strong sanction of voiding the entire petition will serve to deter similar activity in the future and to protect the precious right of the initiative to Oklahoma voters,” Watt wrote.

TABOR legislation vowed

The state Supreme Court threw out the TABOR issue Aug. 31, beating the deadline for the state Election Board to know what issues could be on the Nov. 7 general election ballot.

The proposal would limit future government spending based on a formula of inflation increases and population growth.

State Sen. Randy Brogdon, R-Owasso, who is filing TABOR legislation in the upcoming session, said he was disappointed by the court's opinion.

"Our state constitution says very simply that if you're going to gather petitions for signatures you have to be a resident of the state of Oklahoma, period,” he said. "It doesn't say you have to live here six months. If that is their case, I am absolutely stunned.”

Related Topics: U.S. State Government, U.S. Government, Politics, Elections and Voting