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August 21, 2006

Scandal in Oklahoma Reveals Much

Heather Wilhelm, Director of Communications for Americans for Limited Government and US Term Limits, has created quite a stir, especially with Christians, with her story of how eminent domain is being used to take a church in Oklahoma so that the evil city can have the property used for something that generates taxes. In her piece, she pumps the great work of a group called "Protect Our Homes Oklahoma," which is working to pass a measure that would ban the use of eminent domain for economic development (and impose just compensation laws far more strict than Oregon's Measure 37, though proponents conveniently don't mention that).

Fortunately for the people of Oklahoma, in May, the Oklahoma Supreme Court outlawed the use of eminent domain for economic development. That decision didn't touch the compensation portion of ALG's (oops, I mean Protect Our Homes Oklahoma's) ballot measure, however. And as someone who supports Measure 37, I'm offended both by the dishonest use of the eminent domain cover and by the extreme nature of the compensation portion. Rumor has it that Oregon's own Dave Hunnicut was hired to write all of ALG's eminent domain ballot measures this year. He is very familiar with Oregon's single subject rule, so he should also be well aware that despite Wilhelm's claims that the two are "really a comprehensive initiative that will protect private property," they are really two separate subjects and ought to be considered separately.

Wilhelm's op-ed about the dangers faced by churches in the climate of heartless greed that fills city halls neglects to inform readers that it is her own group that is funding and managing the efforts of Protect Our Homes Oklahoma. In fact, back in September of 2005, when asked about her group's involvement she said, "From what I understand, that is a local issue." And she has repeatedly said her group just wants to lend a helping hand to local grassroots efforts all over the country. "[W]e have people from around the country e-mailing us for help," she says. "We're definitely happy to help any group that is doing this great work in any state." "[I]t's in our mission statement to help grass-roots groups get it on the ballot."

"Stop Overspending Oklahoma" is another group working on a ballot measure – this one a Colorado TABOR spin-off. Of course, this group, too, is home-grown and not at all part of any national effort, just like "Stop Over Spending Montana," "Stop Overspending Nebraska," "Stop Overspending Missouri," and "Stop Overspending Michigan", all of which are also receiving funding from Americans for Limited Government. Which, of course, is always happy to help grassroots efforts.

For those who have been following this story, none of this is news. We've known for several weeks now about Howard Rich, Paul Jacob, Eric O'Keefe, and their paid mouthpiece, Heather Wilhelm and the group's efforts to pass extreme property compensation, TABOR, and term limits in about a dozen states. But I do have a bit of new information that further undermines Heather Wilhelm's assertions that the group is just trying to help all these independent grassroots groups who have been emailing ALG asking for money. In fact, I have in my hot little hand proof that this group actually managed the signature drives in Oklahoma, a smoking gun that they did the same in the other states, as well.

In Oklahoma, the signature collection process for both Protect Our Homes Oklahoma and Stop Overspending Oklahoma (both of which are being run by Oklahomans in Action) were contracted out to National Voter Outreach, whose President is Susan Johnson. One would expect that if this truly was a grassroots initiative campaign, it would be the local Chief Petitioners or the head of Oklahomans in Action who would be the point-persons in these signature gathering campaigns. But that is not what happened. Instead, Susan Johnson reported signature counts, gave updates, and issued funding increase requests to Paul Jacob.

In case you have forgotten, Paul Jacob is not only the head of US Term Limits and a Senior Fellow at Americans for Limited Government, he is also Howard Rich's brother-in-law. It's all very cozy.

So about those emails. I'll give you a few excerpts so you know what I mean.

On September 12, 2005 Susan Johnson sent an email to Paul Jacob.

The delays have put us in a difficult position. A 90-day, 293,000-signature campaign at the "regular" rate was possible, we stated, because of our ability to take advantage of Election-Day recruiting (two weeks prior to the election) and working the Fair season. The first opportunity has passed and it seems less likely each day that the committee will form, deposit & contract will be executed, lawyers will agree on the wording, the petition format will be checked by myself and the state, and that we will have paper in time to recruit and train and be in force at the State Fair by the 15th (3 days).

This is not a complaint. Flexibility is a necessity and so frequently coordinating all the elements is like shooting at a moving target. But there also has to be an understanding of how this may effect [sic] the budget. Please be prepared to deal with this issue once we are into the first few weeks of the drive. We will be better able to determine our signature-growth momentum at weeks three and four. As it stands, I think that the budget may require an additional [redacted] if start-up recruitment doesn't happen quickly enough.

Big Ads broke in the paper on Sunday; our offices and phones are secured. Management is waiting for the paper. The printer is on standby. I'm still looking for the contract, draft petition & final deposit. Please keep me posted on the time frame as you get a handle on it. I need to coordinate two dates with Kathy Jekel [of the Secretary of State's office]. My people are calling me a couple times a day for updates.

Note that at the time this coordination is taking place, Susan says they are still looking to form a committee, so obviously the local grassroots group that supposedly generated this campaign that ALG was so happy to help achieve their local goals had not even formed yet.

In a memorandum to Paul Jacob on October 4, 2005, Susan reports that she has collected 14,272 signatures. Her October 11 field report to Paul Jacob provides a signature update, expresses concern at the rate of growth in momentum, and discusses the advertising efforts to draw in petitioners, including outreach to "the fast-food industry workers."

On November 11, Jacob emails Johnson and asks her, "Can you get me a total on what OIA has paid in OK? I'm trying to decipher what's in Rick Carpenter's bank account." Johnson replies, "Is there any word about the Missouri project? Inquiring minds want to know …"

At this point, her email gets very interesting. Oklahoma law absolutely prohibits the circulation of petitions by non-residents. Organizers for National Voter Outreach knowingly brought in "pros" – people who circulate all over the country. Susan writes:

We have 7 pro's [sic] coming in thus far. We have three pros in town leaving for 10 days. We are still actively recruiting. However there are two petitions paying a total of $2.25 in CA. Which has wide open access. Don't know how far this will take us, but we will bill you as we get them and as they produce. You can expect a pro report with your regular weekly update.

I will bill you for pro expenses as they are billed to me. I want to switch over the team bonuses to bringing in pros if we can. If we get enough of them it will cost less money in the long run. So pro's [sic] coming in earn [redacted] for expenses on [redacted] signatures a week and an additional [redacted] from NVO on the other bonus program for [redacted] a week. We hope that will keep the pay inspiring as we try and work out the Access problems. …

Look forward to seeing you on Tuesday. Get me your flight schedule and I'll pick you up.

Her November 29 field report to Paul Jacob complains about how the holiday (Thanksgiving) hit the effort hard and that blockers were out interfering with signature gathering at parades and other events by distributing leaflets asking people not to sign the petition. This, she said, caused her crew to collect half as many signatures as expected. "I am thinking there may be a mobilized union effort," she wrote.

Our pros are also having trouble with access. Our Missouri crew of 6 (one dropped) that arrived on Wednesday has collected just 1500 signatures over their first 4 days circulating. That is an average of 62 signatures per day each. These are people who are used to collecting 150-200 per day. …

We have just three weeks left. I have 12 pro's [sic] confirmed still in town today. Three of those were not here over the weekend and not one has reached bonus numbers. … We need to discuss our next move. I think it's time to consider a rate increase across the board and leave in place production bonuses. I will continue to try and bring in additional pro's [sic] using the recruiting bonus plan instituted last week.

Paul Jacob's reply is interesting: "This is shaping up to be a disaster where we pay for 250,000 signatures and fail to make the ballot. Should we pull the plug on SOS?"

December 2, Jacob writes to Johnson about a contract they have put together to hire Michael Rhodes to recruit petitioners to produce 10,000 signatures by December 18:

Here is the Michael Rhodes agreement. He let me keep my socks, that's about it. Obviously, we're agreeing to pay NVO this amount for hiring Michael according to this agreement. There is still time if I left something out. Let me know.

For those concerned about the illegal use of non-resident petitioners in Oklahoma, Johnson's December 8 email to Jacob is perhaps the most indicting:

We have commitments from 62 pro's [sic] to be in the state by Friday. I am continuing to encourage others to come. Reports are that California ends tomorrow. Many are already here and working.

These are discussions a contractor has with the person who has hired them. Obviously, that person was not the head of Oklahomans in Action. It was Paul Jacob of Americans for Limited Government, the group that is providing funding for similar measures across the country. Perhaps that is why ALG's recent Action Conference program listed a Friday, 8/18/06 agenda item at 8:00 pm entitled The impact of our initiatives across the country by Eric O'Keefe, also of ALG. Just to be sure you are clear as to these individuals' association with ALG, the next day, Saturday, the Action Conference featured a Q&A session with an "ALG panel" that included John Tillman, Paul Jacob, Eric O'Keefe, and Bob Costello.

One final bit of interesting information as to the motivations of these individuals behind the TABOR ballot measure is found on the agenda for the 33rd Annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in 2006:

CPAC06-22: Reining in Spending: Starving the Beast: John Berthoud, PhD., Tom Schatz, Rep. Todd Tiahrt, John Tillman, Moderator: John Fund

Now let's all watch as Howard Rich's and Paul Jacob's local puppets swear up and down that it was all their idea, all their locally-initiated effort, and it really truly is grassroots, but it doesn't really matter where the money came from anyway, and those union thugs are so awful, and [stomping feet on the floor] why won't we just debate the issues!

Posted by Becky at August 21, 2006 09:34 AM