On November 18, a federal jury awarded $67,000 to Denise Carey, who had unsuccessfully tried to place a local initiative on the ballot in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, in 2004. After her petition had been rejected, the city had sued Carey for $11,056 to recover the costs of checking the signatures. Carey had then sued the city in federal court, arguing against a system that requires petition circulators to pay for the costs of checking petitions. The case is Carey v City of Wilkes-Barre, U.S. District Court, middle district, Scranton, no. 05-cv-2534. It was handled by U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Vanaskie, a Clinton appointee.
See this newspaper story about the jury verdict. The case is being appealed to the 3rd circuit. If the decision is upheld, it may be a very important precedent to help Ralph Nader, and also the Green Party of Pennsylvania, fight state court orders requiring each of them to pay approximately $80,000 for the costs of checking their signatures in 2004 and 2006.
To charge people to have their petitions counted is ludicrous (not the rapper). Lord willing, the great State of Pennsylvania will pass ballot access laws that enhance the right of the people to place constitutional candidates on the ballot.
Denise is a hero.
I didn’t know that ballot initiatives could even be done in Wilkes-Barre. Pennsylvania is not an initiatives & referendum state at the state wide level, but I’ve heard that Philidelphia and Pittsburg have local initiative & referendum rights, but those are the only two places in Pennsylvania that I’ve heard of having it, and I’ve heard that it is very rare for an initiative or referendum to be done in those places.
A reading of the linked article explains that
the petitioning was done to amend the city home
rule charter so that the amendment could
be put forward to the voters. This would have
brought Wilkes-Barre into line with other
home rule “referendum” cities in PA, like Pittsburgh and Philadelphia.
A strong grassroots campaign in Pittsburgh several years ago brought a Civilian-Police Review Board referendum on to the ballot which the voters approved, over the aggressive objections of the local political establishment.
And as Richard notes in the article, the ruling
for citizen Denise Carey, could have a significant
impact on the Nader 2004 and Romanelli 2006
vindictive court penalties…as well as
“petitioning review penalties” in the future.
Suing New Age government officers for $$$ damages is perhaps the only way to get them to follow the LAW.