“All your initiatives signatures belong to the enemy of that initiative.”
Some people who didn’t like that Washington State’s domestic partnership law collected enough signatures to get a Referendum on the ballot to end it. It was called Referendum 71.
Almost immediately, some of the people who liked the domestic partnership law filed with the Secretary of State to have the names, addresses and phone numbers of the people who signed the petition handed over to them.
The people who ran the petition signing operation said that giving out the names to the pro-partnership law would be tantamount to encouraging the criminal harassment of those who signed the petition and sued the SoS to stop the release of that information. Unfortunately for them, they never actually got a decision on whether the worries about harassment from one of the lesser courts.
Yesterday, the SCOTUS decided 8-1 that because the harassment worries had never actually been ruled upon by a lower court, they could not actually rule to block the release of the list, but that, as with all public records cases since dirt was young, the SoS has to release the list.
So now the people behind Referendum 71 have to go back to the ground level courts and try and get a judgment on whether the possibility of harassment is enough of a “burden” to halt the Washington SoS from releasing the list.
I suppose I should care which side wins, but since there is no option right now of the names being released and the signers not getting harassed, I can’t find the urge to do so.
When the potential harassers figure out that a larger than normal percentage of those on the list are armed, it might put a damper on what happens next.
Or not.
The special rights people are never known for their real-world attitudes.
I would have no problem with them releasing the names under certain provisions, ie;
1. Each of the parties obtaining the names (including the lawyers involved) are made personally liable for anything (yes, ANYTHING) that happens to anybody on that list.
2. The parties obtaining the list (including the lawyers) post a bond of $500 (cost of a set of cheap tires) per name on the list or $1,000,000 whichever is greater.