Saturday, May 08, 2004
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal
Activist jailed for circulating tax petitions
Police arrest pair seeking signatures for vote to challenge legislative action
By
ED VOGEL
REVIEW-JOURNAL CAPITAL BUREAU
CARSON CITY -- Longtime political activist Janine Hansen said Friday her arrest while circulating petitions at a Reno bus terminal is the latest example of government officials trying to stop legitimate political activity.
"They are trying to kill the petitions," Hansen said after spending six hours in a holding room at the Washoe County Jail. "It's like my brother Dan said: 'He has rights who is willing to assert them.' We were asserting them. If you don't take a stand, bureaucrats will run over you, no matter what the law is."
Reno police arrested Hansen and her 25-year-old son, Zack Triggs, about 6:30 p.m. Thursday after they refused to leave the Regional Transportation Commission's Citifare bus terminal, where they were gathering signatures on petitions. They were released on their own recognizance and ordered to appear in court May 27 on trespassing charges.
They are members of Nevadans for Sound Government, which is circulating petitions to force a public vote in November to repeal the $833 million tax increase approved last year by the Legislature and to block government employees from being in the Legislature.
"They told us to stop gathering signatures," Janine Hansen said. "I told them their policy was a violation of state law. We said we could and we weren't going to stop, so they arrested us. We aren't going to follow some illegal edict by a petty bureaucrat."
George Harris, the leader of Nevadans for Sound Government, said last week the petition gathering may fall short because of continued obstacles and harassment of petition circulars.
"This puts the icing on the cake," Harris said. "It shows conclusively we have been harassed. We are sick of it."
But Stanyan Peck, the Regional Transportation Commission lawyer, said Hansen could not collect signatures because she refused to fill out an application form that lists restrictions on gathering signatures at the bus station.
Although it could take as long as two days for him to approve the application, Peck said, it generally takes less than a day, and sometimes only 10 minutes.
"Her position is she doesn't have to do anything," Peck said. "She never told me what the petitions were. We have had six or seven other organizations fill out the paperwork, and they have had the ability to circulate petitions with no problems whatsoever."
Hansen's brother, Joel, a Las Vegas lawyer, plans to ask the state Supreme Court for a 60-day extension for gathering signatures, alleging harassment of circulators. Signatures are due May 18.
Less than two weeks ago, people were prevented from collecting signatures at a Department of Motor Vehicles office in Reno. The governor's office admitted that was a mistake and informed DMV managers that people have a right to circulate petitions.
The Hansens also are leaders of the Independent America Party of Nevada, founded by the late Dan Hansen. Christopher Hansen of Henderson, the party's current chairman, filed a complaint with the secretary of state over the DMV incident. The attorney general's office is investigating.
Janine Hansen said she told Peck in advance that she planned to petition at the bus station and informed him of Secretary of State Dean Heller's order last Sept. 17, which states petition gatherers do not have to give advance notice of activities. Janine Hansen said following the RTC guidelines could have prevented her from gathering signatures for five days.
Peck said he thought the secretary of state was "exceeding his jurisdiction" in denying the RTC's right to require advance notice on petition gathering efforts.
Heller was away Friday on family business. Deputy Secretary of State Renee Parker said she told Peck about the order Friday that no advance notice was required.
"Only a court can designate
whether a waiting time is reasonable. Whether they can impose other instructions is more
for the court to decide."