Paul Jacob

Paul Jacob (1960 - ) is an activist, organizer, and advocate for legislative term limits, initiative and referendum rights, and limited government. He has held positions with the Libertarian Party, U.S. Term Limits, Americans for Limited Government, Citizens in Charge and the Sam Adams Foundation. In 1987 and 1988, Jacob was the Libertarian Party's national director. In 1988, he worked to put Ron Paul on the ballot for president as a Libertarian, winning ballot access in 47 states.

Free Paul Jacob

On October 2, 2007, Oklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmondson announced that a multi-county grand jury had issued a criminal indictment against Jacob and two others for their role in a 2005 Oklahoma petition drive. In November 2007, the indictment was dismissed. It is believed that the Attorney General's office will re-issue it directly from their office.

Had that petition drive succeeded, it would have placed a Taxpayer Bill of Rights spending-limitation ballot measure on the 2006 Oklahoma ballot. The charges against Jacob and the other two are that they "willfully, corruptly, deceitfully, fraudulently and feloniously" conspired to defraud Oklahoma."Petition Backers Indicted On Felony Charges"

In a prepared statement released upon indictment, Paul Jacob wrote that the prosecution was "not about the law, but rather 100 percent politically motivated. This is politics – very ugly politics." As well as challenging the motives of the prosecution, Jacob noted the many troubles of the constitutionality of the laws upon which the prosecution is based, adding that "constitutional or not, we obeyed the statute.""Statement of Paul Jacob",

The charges revolve around the fact that petitioners came into Oklahoma from out-of-state to collect signatures on the petition. Oklahoma has a law saying that signatures may only be collected by residents of the state. Legal issues in the case surround whether such residency requirements are constitutional, and the claim of those indicted that they followed the state's laws because petitioners who came into the state registered, as required, as state residents.

Prosecution compared to Pakistan, North Korea

A November 19 editorial in the Wall Street Journal compared the prosecution to what one might expect from the Pakistan government.Oklahoma's Most Wanted; The latest thing in political felonies: a petition drive Steve Forbes, editor-in-chief of Forbes magazine, asked in an editorial in the November 26, 2007 issue of that magazine, "Has North Korea annexed Oklahoma?"Has North Korea Annexed Oklahoma?

Support of Paul Jacob

R-Randy Brogdon, Oklahoma Senator Randy Brogdon released a public statement on October 5, 2007 in support of Jacob, saying, "It appears Drew Edmondson is more concerned with protecting his own political power than he is with preserving, protecting, and defending the right of Oklahomans to free speech,” Brogdon said. “This is nothing less than an attack on our Republican form of government.”Sen. Brogdon says Oklahomans Should be Dismayed by Politically Motivated Indictment of Citizen Activists, Oklahoma State Senate, Oct 5th, 2007

• Reason Online, "Losing Our Initiative"
• Lew Rockwell
• Mark Tapscott
• M Rebman
• Wendy McElroy
• Can you be indicted for petitioning your government? In Oklahoma, yes.
• Chet Zarko
• A Vindictive Indictment
• Payback for Activism
• Unconstitutional Oklahoma law
• Who is next on the state's hit list?
• Gagging Paul Jacob
• Outrageous political ploy to quell citizen rights
• Speakers indicted. We're proud of them.

Draft resistance

Jacob first came to political prominence in the early 1980s as a draft registration resister. His crusade against forced military service and for the all-volunteer army was featured in Rolling Stone magazine. In 1985, after being convicted of violating the Selective Service Act, he served five and a half months in federal prison, longer than any American draft resister since the Vietnam War. During the trial, Congressman Ron Paul testified on his behalf.

See also:

• List of Libertarian Party National Directors

External links

• Free Paul Jacob
• Paul Jacob blog
• Paul Jacob on Ballotpedia
• Paul Jacob in the Press Sam Adams Alliance "Full Coverage" link page
• Citizens in Charge: Free Paul Jacob Defense/Donation site
• Tall order: Petition process needs a fix, NewsOK, Nov. 14, 2007