The leader of the term limits movement and two other organizers of a petition drive in Oklahoma are under state indictment there on charges they broke laws related to out of state signature gathering. The indictment lookis like an over-the-top attempt by state attorney general Drew Edmondson to criminalize signature gathering in a state that is already the most difficult state to qualify an initiative in. Oklahoma has the shortest time period for gathering signatures -- 90 days -- which in and of itself puts the lie to claims by officials there that they want to make signature gathering a grass roots process. With such a short time period, paid petition circulators are the only way to qualify a measure; no grass roots operation can gather enough signatures that fast. (This is a point that Bob Stern makes in his excellent new report on the initiaitve process in California; he argues that time period be extended in the Golden State, from 150 days to a year, to permit grass roots groups to gather signatures).

There's an entertaining blog, Free Paul Jacob, that focuses on the case. A look at legal precedent suggests that eventually, Jacob and his co-defendants, who are free on bail, will beat these charges. But there's enough worry that the site is blogging about a prison fight at the Oklahoma State Reformatory.