A PROMISE TO KEEP: 5%
A Ballot Committee of
Citizens for Limited Taxation & Government
PO Box 408 * Peabody, MA 01960
Phone:(617) 248-0022 * E-Mail: cltg@cltg.org
Visit our web-page at: http://cltg.org
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*** Promise Update ***
Thursday, April 9, 1998

Greetings activists and supporters:

The best news that came out of yesterday’s first day of oral arguments before Justice van Gestel of Suffolk Superior Court is, despite all the obvious stalling by the teachers union, he will not permit them to disrupt the process. If it is in "his power" (and it is), he will order the Secretary of State to issue to us the next round of blank petitions in May, assuming that the "Legislature doesn’t adopt this initiative" (which it won’t)!

The worst news is, the teachers union announced that it intends to subpoena "hundreds of signers" and order them to appear before the court, beginning on next Thursday.

When our case was called, our attorney, Steve Epstein, sat at one end of the table and was offset at the other end by *five* teachers union lawyers—FIVE OF THEM! The attorney from the Attorney General’s office, Margaret Monsell, and Jack McCarthy from the Secretary of State’s office, separated them, in the middle of the table, and both did a great job defending the process against the teachers union’s ridiculous charges.

The teachers union lawyers opened with a long rambling lecture on numbers and categories (so confusing that they’d prepared a complicated flow-chart which they gave to the judge and only further confused everyone!) and how a wrong street address number should be cause to strike an otherwise registered voter.

Steve opened with a very simple analogy:

"Some fourteen weeks ago I became lost in a forest. I heard voices calling some of the trees A and others B and yet others C, D, and E. Yet others were called G, H, I, J, K, L, M and P. As I wandered this forest and examined the trees I discovered that there were really only three kinds of trees, qualified trees, unqualified trees, and false trees.

"When I stepped back to examine the forest, I observed that almost all of the trees were qualified trees. Then I saw all the dead trees and wondered why I had engaged in this odyssey, and why others more wise than I had permitted themselves to be forced into this wilderness.

"Of course the cases before the Court have nothing to do with whether or not the initiative petition is supported by the required number of qualified trees—which it is—but whether the question can be kept off the ballot through luck and an hyper-technical interpretation of a statute contrary to all reason, and constitutional and statutory interpretation. I do not know whether the opponent are the "deceivers, betrayers, and destroyers of Liberty," John Adams warned of, or the "well intentioned but with out understanding" persons Justice Brandeis warned of—I do know that they are opposed to the idea of a ninety-five cent tax break on every hundred dollars of taxable income." *[See our web-page for entire text.]*

When Justice van Gestel attempted (three times) to adjourn, taking the arguments "under advisement," they kept leaping to their feet and asking him if he wanted to have the "hundreds" of those to be subpoenaed by the teachers union begin appearing on Thursday—desperately trying to get him to agree, no doubt so they could then blame him for the harassment! But, despite how many different ways they asked their question, he would not provide what they wanted, instead stating over and over that they knew better than he their time schedule and how long their interrogations would take. (And, thanks to those who wrote letters to the judge, he mentioned that he’s been receiving complaints from aggrieved voters who feel harassed!)

Again, the teachers union lawyers came unprepared, and this has not escaped the judge’s notice. They were supposed to have a final list of the initial 1,250 signatures they challenged when this case opened. Claiming *they’re* over-worked and overwhelmed—and how expensive this has become for them— they begged for and got more time! But, as Steve noted, they’re now talking about "hundreds" of signatures, not "over a thousand," so we can assume they’ve given up on a great many.

As best as we can ascertain, here’s where we stand as of today:

· Of the 1,833 signatures of registered voters who weren’t certified that we’re trying to add, the teachers have conceded 566;

· Those get added to the 48 they’ve conceded were miscounted in our total and should be added to it, and the 116 "T" coded signatures that the clerks thought were counted twice but weren’t and have been conceded by the teachers;

· The teachers’ latest claim is that 1,250 signatures in all sorts of crazy categories should not have been certified—but didn’t have a current number, as the court had required of them. We have conceded 263 of those.

· We expect to have over 1,000 more signatures than required when all is said and done!

Arguments will continue on Tuesday morning at 9:00, when the teachers introduce their $150/hr. "handwriting expert."

This morning Barbara will also testify as an expert witness for Jim Braude’s and John O’Connor’s Electric Dereg referendum, being challenged before the State Ballot Law Commission by Boston Electric and Associated Industries of Massachusetts.

(BTW, "Frivilous Bill" McDermott is one of the objectors’ attorneys in that case, as well as working for the teachers union against us! He’s looking pretty haggard and got to his feet to argue only once yesterday—after the teachers union lawyers had insulted the Secretary of State’s office and offended the court—and somebody had to kiss up quickly.)

Chip Ford—

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You can e-mail A Promise to Keep: 5% at --> cltg@cltg.org
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