Gary Haugen and Gov. Kitzhaber: Enough!

From this article today in the Salem Statesman Journal we find that Marion Circuit Court judge is now determining whether Governor John Kitzhaber's "reprieve" is valid or invalid.

Whatever one thinks about the death penalty, in a state that allows assisted suicide, why can't this man be allowed to die?  The governor used some trumped up powers that he may or may not have the authority to use (this judges' decision may determine that) and has stopped all executions in Oregon because he is "morally" against them.  

I'm pretty sure the Constitution says something about "cruel and unusual punishment" and although I don't have a lot of sympathy for a twice convicted murderer, I do have some sympathy for Gary Haugen who not once, not twice but three times was preparing himself for the gurney trip to the needle only to be pulled back at the last minute, and if that's not "cruel and unusual" I don't know what is.  Haugen argues that he has not accepted the reprieve, as he said he is entitled to do under previous Oregon Supreme Court cases. He also said the governor’s order has no fixed ending date, unlike reprieves issued by previous governors, and the governor has exceeded his authority under the law.  Does everyone realize that the Governor did not have the moral conviction to "commute" all of the death sentences?  No, his moral outrage only allowed him to kick the can down the street until the next governor takes office.

My question, leading up to this judge's decision: if the judge decides that Kitzhaber's "reprieve" is invalid, will the Governor and Attorney General continue to use taxpayer money to pursue his "moral objections", or will he just let this end?  Will he take this "fight" all the way AGAIN to the Oregon Supreme Court?  I say "ENOUGH"!  Quit wasting my money on this crusade and let the man die!

Oregon SOS Kate Brown: Her "rules" vs. Oregon Constitution

Petition 50, the Redistricting Initiative that backers were hoping would be on the November ballot is in serious jeopardy right now. (Here is a story from back in April from the Oregonian that does a good job of explaining the initiative)
The initiative needed 110,358 signatures and election officials say that 125,948 were gathered. Sounds good right? Wrong. As of this writing, the Secretary of State's office has "disqualified" or thrown out, 12,975 signatures for various reasons.

Now you might think that Kate Brown's office has good reason and perhaps even Oregon Constitutional law behind her to do this, right? Wrong. The Oregon Constitution mandates that signatures be verified. There is a process for that. What the Constitution does NOT mandate is throwing signatures out! It is silent on that. So, what we have here is a politician, starting with Bill Bradbury and now continued with Kate Brown, changing the game so to speak. If her office does not want an initiative to hit the ballot, she throws out signatures and that's that.

Here are some examples of reasons for "invalidating" signatures:
If you put a / through the 0 in the date, it's invalid.
If you didn't put the date as: 06/22/10, it's invalid.
If you wrote your spouses name and address and then he or she signed it, it's invalid.
If your black pen ran out of ink and you chose another pen, even a black one, it's invalid.
If you pressed harder on the "B" or any other part of your petition so that it looks like it's been "altered", it's invalid.
The rule requiring an entire sheet of signatures to be thrown out for one error is not a legitimate exercise and is unfair to the others who are represented on that sheet. It is not Constitutional and it is part of the continual attack on Oregon's very unique and wonderful initiative petition process.

Do you think the same "due diligence" was given to the "Marijuana Initiative"? Any of the other initiatives that did make the November ballot?

Tyler Smith, attorney for redistricting initiative said that "about 11% were disqualified before the statistical sampling was done". The process that is mandated by the Oregon Constitution is a statistical process. These 11% were tossed out BEFORE the process.
Mr. Smith is currently filing a lawsuit against Secretary of State Kate Brown and this and the process for this initiative must be completed by August 1st in order for there to be any chance of this initiative to be on the November ballot.

I for one am outraged and if you signed that petition, you should be as outraged as I am and willing to do whatever it takes to stop this blatant abuse of power. I am urging all who read this to call Kate Brown's office at 503-986-1523 or even better, to visit her office today. Her office is in the State Capitol Building, on the first floor in the East wing. Please let her know that you are not going to allow her and her office to continue to kill your voice by way of disqualifying your signature.

This is why I do my radio show every day. I want nothing more than to tell you the truth of what happens in your State Government and then empower you to do something about it. If that is something that you feel you are not hearing enough of, then I urge you to listen to my radio show every weekday at noon on AM 1430 KYKN or online at www.1430kykn.com. You can hear Tyler Smith and I discuss the lawsuit and this issue on my website: www.thebillpostradioshow.com, click on "Listen to Latest Show" through 2pm tomorrow and then it will move into the "Podcast" archive at the top of the page.

UPDATE:
Kate Brown wants your help on this petition. In a document sent out last year, she asks if the petition is "valid". This comes out now at the same time as the "disqualifying" of signatures? You don't think there is a conspiracy here? READ DOCUMENT HERE!