Asking For Accountability From Our Elected Officials

There is nothing more frustrating than seeing or experiencing a crime that goes un-prosecuted. Whether it is the victim of a violent crime or a victim of a civil crime, the pain that they feel affects us all.

When our elected officials do not stand up for the rights of these victims, then they need to be replaced with someone that will. All political officials need to be held accountable to the very people that put them into office.

We have the constitutional right to vote people into office and in many states and jurisdictions, have the right to remove them from office though the recall process.

Often times it is a simple problem of promoting someone to their level of incompetency. If an officer is a “good cop” that does not mean they have the training, business or leadership skills to be a sheriff. If some ones family member was a commissioner or council member, how does that give them the skills to be the same or be in another political office unless they can show, unto themselves, they have the necessary credentials for that office. This also happens with the County Judge’s positions and many other positions of representatives and senators as well.

Once a person in elected to an office, they are generally there for years. If they are apathetic, incompetent or involved in some criminal activity, the only recourse for the public, in most cases, is the recall process.

The Recall Handbook is a Practical Guide to Your Constitutional Rights to Recall an Elected Official. It goes through each step of the process from research and planning to actually collecting signatures and campaigning for the vote to remove the elected official. Information is included to help with the writing of the petition, organizing a team and potential problems you may experience along the way. It is an excellent resource book for anyone thinking about launching a recall effort.

Update on the Montana Grand Jury

"November 10, 2009

The Office of Montana’s Secretary of State Has Accepted a Draft Ballot Initiative Seeking to Provide the Citizens of Montana the Ability to Summon Grand Juries By Petition

Stevensville, Montana, November 10, 2009 – The office of Montana’s Secretary of State (SOS) in Helena has accepted a ballot initiative, to be reviewed by the office of Legislative Services. This is the beginning stage of placing the initiative on the 2010 general election ballot.

This initiative has been labeled ‘Ballot Issue #18’ by the SOS, and is a Constitutional Initiative (CI), seeking to amend Montana’s Constitution, providing for the ability of the citizens to summon Grand Juries by petition.

Currently, the Montana Constitution only provides that a District Judge, at their discretion, may summon a Grand Jury. Article II, Section 20, Paragraph 2 states: “A grand jury shall consist of eleven persons, of whom eight must concur to find an indictment. A grand jury shall be drawn and summoned only at the discretion and order of the district judge.”

Serving as a ‘check and balance’ for the Constitutional Republic known as the United States, the Founders had preserved for the citizens, the right and ability to assure that the public servants kept their activities in line with the intent of the Constitution, and its Bill of Rights, which were ratified on December 15, 1791.

The term Grand Jury is mentioned only in the 5th amendment to the United States Constitution. It is meant to be a right retained by the people. It is a citizen function, not a government function, as the public has been lead to believe.

What do the courts have to say?

“An independent grand jury is to stand between the prosecutor and the accused, and to determine whether a charge is legitimate, or is dictated by malice or personal ill will.”

”Hale v. Henkel, 201 U.S. 43 (1906)

The Supreme Court states that the independent grand jury’s purpose is not only to investigate possible criminal conduct, but to act as a “protector of citizens against arbitrary and oppressive governmental action,” and to perform its functions; the independent grand jury “deliberates in secret and may determine alone the course of its inquiry.”

United States v. Calandra, 414 U.S. 338 (1974)

Article IV, Section 4 of The United States Constitution says: “The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government …” And, Montana is this form of government. As such, the Montana Constitution states in Section 1: “Popular sovereignty. All political power is vested in and derived from the people. All government of right originates with the people, is founded upon their will only, and is instituted solely for the good of the whole.”

And, in Section 2: “Self-government. The people have the exclusive right of governing themselves as a free, sovereign, and independent state. They may alter or abolish the constitution and form of government whenever they deem it necessary.”

The Founders’ intended for the sovereign citizens to ‘lend’ the public servants their specific duties. Among these is the preservation of constitutionally protected rights. The servants are not in a position, and do not have the ability to take away these sovereign, constitutionally secured rights and powers of the people.

Amending Montana’s Constitution as indicated will serve to restore the Founders’ intent, at the state level, regarding the position of, and political responsibilities required by, the citizenry.

Duane Sipe"
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Source of Post
http://montanaconservative.wordpress.com/2009/11/12/update-on-the-montana-grand-jury/
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and www.MontanaGrandJury.com
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