The Associated Press
OKLAHOMA CITY — The state’s multicounty grand jury is investigating an initiative petition signature drive that the Oklahoma Supreme Court said violated state law.
Among those subpoenaed to testify in the case is Susan Johnson, president of National Voter Outreach of Ludington, Mich., which collected signatures for the so-called taxpayer-bill-of-rights, or TABOR, petition in Oklahoma.
Johnson, who has compared the Oklahoma court opinion to “a corporate lynching without a trial,” did not return calls from The Associated Press to her business and residence in Ludington.
However, the woman asked a circuit court in Ludington earlier Friday for more time to fight a subpoena to have her come to Oklahoma to testify as “a material and necessary witness” before the grand jury.
“I haven’t knowingly done anything wrong,” she later told the Ludington Daily News. She said she thinks she may be a target of the grand jury, which is overseen by the office of Oklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmondson.
“I cannot discuss matters that may or may not be before the state’s multicounty grand jury,” said Charlie Price, a spokesman for Edmondson.
Johnson, who appeared before Mason County Circuit Judge Richard I. Cooper, said she believes the grand jury is investigating possible criminal charges against subcontractors she hired to collect signatures on the TABOR petition.
Johnson’s attorney, Craig Elhart from Traverse City, Mich., could not be with Johnson in court on Friday, she said during the hearing.
“I don’t know what my rights are, but I do believe I’m a target,” Johnson told the Ludington newspaper.
The judge postponed the hearing in Michigan on the subpoena question until Tuesday — the day Johnson was scheduled to testify in Oklahoma, but noted that Johnson’s “tactic speaks highly of manipulation.”
In a 2006 opinion, Oklahoma Supreme Court Chief Justice Joseph M. Watt sharply criticized National Voter Outreach for “establishing a pervasive pattern of wrongdoing and fraud” in the TABOR petition drive.
The opinion said evidence was overwhelming that the organization skirted Oklahoma law by knowingly using out-of-state recruiters and allowing a foreign national to collect signatures and another circulator to verify the TABOR petition.
“NVO and its out-of-state circulators were paid, imported entities in search of signatories for their own economic benefit — not for the benefit of Oklahoma citizens or their laws,” the opinion said.
Johnson said then that Oklahoma law was not clearly defined and NVO attempted to operate within legal guidelines.
“They’re politicizing the process,” Johnson told the Ludington newspaper Friday. “It used to be you put something on the ballot and debated the issue. Now, they’re defaming the process and my company rather than debating it in a public forum.
“I’m feeling railroaded. I feel it’s a secret grand jury investigation and I believe they’re targeting me. I’m not sure, but I think I know.”
State News
April 13, 2007
Oklahoma: Multicounty grand jury probing petition drive
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