Veteran Petitioner Andy Jacobs Arrested for Petitioning Outside Public Library in Maryland
January 13th, 2011Andy Jacobs, a professional petition circulator, has been arrested for collecting signatures in front of a public library in Maryland. He was working on the Green Party’s ballot access petition at the time. See this story. Because the reporter talked to an American Civil Liberties Union staff attorney, it is obvious that the ACLU knows what happened to Jacobs. Hopefully, the ACLU will help him defend himself.
January 13th, 2011 at 5:52 pm
Thanks for posting Richard. Obvious that the climate for conducting third party activities continues to be threatened. While unfortunate for Andy, incidents like these may get the public to begin to ask… just what is illegal about petitioning in the public?
January 13th, 2011 at 6:01 pm
[...] a post at Ballot Access News, Richard Winger points to a story by Larry Carson which offers details of the arrest of [...]
January 13th, 2011 at 6:42 pm
Gee – What was one factor in having 19 Apr 1775 happen in Mass ???
January 13th, 2011 at 11:23 pm
I was also working on a petition for the Libertarian Party.
More later.
January 14th, 2011 at 12:50 pm
This is not the first such case for Maryland. In 1982 two petitioners were arrested for “loitering” in Dundalk, MD. Andrew Pankin and Mark Ford were arrested while petitioning in a public area and also represented by the ACLU.
It was long ago, but perhaps Richard Winger has more detailed records of the event.
January 14th, 2011 at 3:11 pm
The fact that Andy is a Libertarian Party member and activist and that we were leading with the Libertarian Party Petition will be mentioned on http://www.independentpoliticalreport.com
- I will also provide a first hand account of Ms. Freedman ordering me to leave the library at Ellicott City as well. I’ll try to post the story today or tomorrow.
I’ll be scheduling an IPR blog talk radio show about this for some time this week. Not sure if Andy will be on the show yet.
Paulie
415-690-6352
January 16th, 2011 at 5:47 pm
[...] The Baltimore Sun article does not mention the Libertarian Party petition. It was picked up at Ballot Access News: Veteran Petitioner Andy Jacobs Arrested for Petitioning Outside Public Library in [...]
January 17th, 2011 at 10:21 am
[...] Richard Winger of Ballot Access News: Veteran Petitioner Andy Jacobs Arrested for Petitioning Outside Public Library in Maryland January [...]
January 18th, 2011 at 9:52 am
[...] The Baltimore Sun article does not mention the Libertarian Party petition. It was picked up at Ballot Access News: Veteran Petitioner Andy Jacobs Arrested for Petitioning Outside Public Library in [...]
January 18th, 2011 at 9:21 pm
[...] Veteran Petitioner Andy Jacobs Arrested for Petitioning Outside Public Library in Maryland [...]
January 19th, 2011 at 4:39 am
[...] Veteran Petitioner Andy Jacobs Arrested for Petitioning Outside Public Library in Maryland [...]
January 25th, 2011 at 4:14 pm
[...] Veteran Petitioner Andy Jacobs Arrested for Petitioning Outside Public Library in Maryland [...]