A PROMISE TO KEEP: 5%
A Ballot Committee of
Citizens for Limited Taxation & Government
PO Box 408 * Peabody, MA 01960
Phone:(617) 248-0022 /(978) 538-3900 E-Mail: cltg@cltg.org
Visit our web-page at: http://cltg.org
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*** Promise Update ***
Friday, January 16, 1998
Greetings:
Barbara asked me to forward the following to you, to keep you as much up-to-date as we can in what little time we have away from the hearing and the petitions.
Jeff Jacoby’s Boston Globe column of yesterday was incredible—"Finneran to Voters: Drop
Dead" is a *must read"! You can find it on the Boston Globe Online at:
http://www.globe.com/dailyglobe/globehtml/015/Speaker_Finneran_to_Massachusetts_t.htm
Chip Ford—
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Chip—If you can find a moment free, please share this with our e-mail list:
Hope you had a chance to catch Governor Cellucci’s State-of-the-State speech. His pitch: do the
income tax cut for the children. A good theme for all of us to adopt.
I usually go to these things but couldn’t take the time this week. But I do want to share with you the high points of yesterday’s hearing:
The Massachusetts Teachers Association has hired at least one handwriting expert to check for "invalid signatures." (According to Steve’s cross-examination, she gets $150/hour and has put in 200 hours just scouring our petition!)
Traditionally, both sides hire an expert and they sit down together to agree or disagree on each signature challenged as "invalid" or "illegible". We decided not to agree to anything we didn’t have to. Steve Epstein argued on opening day that anyone can tell if two signatures are by the same person and we figure the commission members can do it without the so-called experts.
Yesterday, the Ballot Law Commission chairman seemed to agree, as he said "I have severe doubts that experts could pass the tests (set forth in recent court cases) . . . it seems plain to me that handwriting experts do not deal with exact science". He said unless he is convinced otherwise he is not inclined to let the expert say that any signature is valid or invalid.
He does seem impressed, however, by the city/town clerks’ ability to determine the signatures of people they know. The Peabody City Clerk identified one almost illegible signature as that of her former boss, the former Peabody City Clerk!
Another town clerk identified the town administrator! Of course they’re not allowed to volunteer information, but being helpful the way clerks often are, they do before the Big Four teachers’ attorneys can object. When there is an objection, Attorney Steve quickly gets up to ask the proper question so that there will be an answer on the record: "So, Mrs. . . . do you know the person you believe signed this petition? Have you ever worked for him?"
In general, the clerks were great witnesses. When the Harvard town clerk was asked why she certified names that did not have an address, only a Post Office Box, she said she called the Post Office to check it!
The Teachers, besides copying all of our petitions, and forcing us to copy them all as well (since of course we can’t work with the originals which are under the protection of the Secretary of State’s office until the Ballot Law Commission needs them) have also produced reams of paperwork as part of their assault. Then they are required to give us a copy of everything they have.
They have also required the city/town clerks to copy more reams of documents: voter registration forms, street lists, voter lists etc. So when the Big Four lawyers announced to the Commission that they intended to file another 256 pages, Steve leapt to his feet to object, crying "Your honor, how many more trees must die!"
The Commission chairman is giving him a lot of leeway to cross-examine the clerks, but with time so short, the clerks are now being asked to just leave their papers and they’ll be called back if they are needed.
Steve of course has objected to not being able to question them now. But since I no longer have to be there to take notes on what they say, I did other work today instead of going to the hearing. Therefore I can’t tell you why the Commission Chairman threatened to fine Steve $5.00 if he didn’t stop whatever he was doing; but at least now I know what a sanction is, which is what Steve was threatened with yesterday when I was there. We can manage a $5 fine; my great fear is seeing Steve removed from the room for insulting the Teachers, and me having to play lawyer! Just in case, I’ve been paying attention. How does that go again? "Your honor, I object..."
Barbara—
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You can e-mail A Promise to Keep: 5% at --> cltg@cltg.org
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