AG Allows Initiative Backers to Play "Bait-and-Switch" with Constitutional Rights

by: Montana Cowgirl

Thu Sep 03, 2009 at 17:06:06 PM MST

So why would he allow Rick Jore and Trevis Butcher to put forward another fraudulent ballot initiative (Yep, this same Butcher is on the board of this initiative campaign)  --this time,  an initiative to amend the constitution to strip away the privacy rights of all Montana women without tipping off the voters as to what this proposed initiative  would really do and its exorbitant costs to Montana taxpayers?

First, there are some obvious problems with the latest Butcher/Jore amendment:

If passed, it would prevent a woman from getting an abortion - even if her life is in jeopardy - prevent treatments like in vitro fertilization, and allow legislators and the courts to dictate permissible activities and medical care for pregnant women.

I would think the AG would also be worried that the proposed initiative could seriously burden the court system by requiring court-appointed guardians to advocate for fertilized eggs and fetuses. Yet, the Attorney General didn't even bother request a fiscal impact statement on the potential costs to the state.

Maybe someone dropped the ball and this just fell through the cracks.

It couldn't have been a political decision--even arch religious conservative groups like the Montana Catholic Conference, Right to Life Montana and the Montana Family Foundation, have rejected this proposed initiative as too extreme.

It couldn't have been that he couldn't find substantive legal problems with the language. The Billings Gazette has already reported on some of the many legal problems with the language pointed out by Legislative Services Attorney David Niss such as

... the proposed ballot statements fail to make it clear that the three proposals apparently are intended to prohibit abortion.

You don't have to be an Attorney General to know that initiative language is supposed to tell voters what the initiative will actually do.   It has some other wacky legal implications too.  Implications that were pointed out for Bullock in this handy memo.

For example, the proposed initiative seeks to grant constitutional due process rights to all fertilized human eggs by amending the due process section of the Montana Constitution to define "person" as "from the beginning of the biological development." This definition is so broad that it could include unfertilized eggs and sperm, potentially impacting all sexual activity of men and women. Also, by requiring the Legislature to implement "this section by appropriate legislation," the initiative could remove every Montanans' current ability to pursue claims of due process violations.

State Report: Montana - Big Sky Big Win

by: 21st Century Democrats

Fri Oct 17, 2008 at 12:37:59 PM MST

Our Montana program is called "Big Sky! Big Win! " and Wendy Davis, our National Field & Training Director, and I both traveled to the state recently to help coordinate our ground game. We have four senior organizers working in Missoula, Helena, Butte, Bozeman and Billings - where about half of Montana's votes will be cast. In mid-October, we dispatched five additional organizers to get out the vote on the state's Native American reservations.

Big Sky! Big Win! is all about identifying supporters early and making sure we get them out to polls on election day. We added 10,000 voters to our "Yes List" in September and are working toward another 10,000 voters in the first three weeks of October. We will use this list of supporters to run our get-out-the-vote program and maximize the Democratic turnout on Election Day. Our organizers and volunteers have already made thousands of phone calls and knocked on hundreds of doors.

I just returned from Montana a few days ago and I can honestly tell you that people are excited about the Democratic ticket - but we need to make sure we harness their energy and win this election! 21st Century Democrats is thrilled to be working with our partners in Montana to elect Democrats up and down the ticket, including three of our endorsed candidates:

• Steve Bullock - Attorney General
• Linda McCulloch - Secretary of State
• Denise Juneau - State Superintendent of Public Instruction

Sincerely,
Dan Lucas
President