The other day Paul Jacob and the other two members of the Oklahoma Three, Rick Carpenter and Susan Johnson, were re-indicted by a politically motivated state attorney general who is as bumbling as he is vindictive, and who has a tendency injurious to his cause of manifesting his true colors whenever he opens his mouth. To wit, Marie Price’s January 29 report in the Journal-Record about the OK3’s court appearance:

The charges stem from supporters’ use of out-of-state petition circulators to gather signatures….

Earlier Monday, Jacob, Carpenter and about 30 supporters appeared on the south steps of the Oklahoma County Courthouse to voice their objections to the charges, and to the state law on which they are based.

“I am innocent,” said Jacob. “We, the Oklahoma 3, are innocent.” Jacob contended that organizers did not violate the statute, although they believe the law is unconstitutional under the First Amendment. Jacob and others criticized Oklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmondson’s office for filing the charges, which came about as indictments by the multicounty grand jury. Jacob contended that the case is politically motivated.

“This prosecution will have a chilling effect on those petition rights of the folks who live in this state and, through spreading fear, perhaps on the rights of citizens all over the country,” he said. Jacob said those pushing other initiatives, such as one to loosen up Oklahoma’s ballot-access process, have encountered a “climate of fear” that prompted some voters not to sign petitions.

“Come what may, against any force or threat, I will continue to work to protect and expand the rights of citizens to control their government, so that we may never face the day when it is the other way around, with government utterly controlling citizens,” he said….

Edmondson later issued a statement saying that it is nothing new when a defendant in a criminal case criticizes the prosecution.

“This is not a First Amendment issue,” he said. “Our allegations involve violations of state election laws that denied the ability of the Oklahomans who legitimately signed the petition to bring this measure to a vote.”

Edmondson said he fully [uh…] supports the initiative process.

“If the courts determine that the state’s process violates the First Amendment, so be it,” he said. “Until that time, our law will be enforced.”

It’s not a First Amendment case at all! Nothing to do with freedom of association and petition and whatnot and other such obstreperous constitutional provisions! And he, Edmondson, the state’s premier law enforcer, believes both that the case has nothing to do with the First Amendment and that if the courts eventually say it does, well okay then, whatever, who am I to know…

The problem–well, one of the problems–with this flippant attitude toward the Constitution is that it constitutes a flagrant abdication of responsibility. It’s not the job of an official sworn to uphold the Constitution to go after innocent persons for exercising their First Amendment rights in good faith even as that official desperately hopes that no court will later rule that prosecuting innocent persons for exercising their First Amendment rights is a matter which does really have to do with the First Amendment.

Oklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmondson has taken the oath of his office so many times that he is perhaps getting bored with it. But one really shouldn’t make a vow to abide by certain principles of conduct that one is unwilling to abide by. As state Representative Charles Key observed in an October press release:

“Our attorney general is treating the constitutions of this country and this state like so much tissue paper to sneeze on.” Key called the prosecution of the Oklahoma 3 “a grotesque abuse of Edmondson’s office.”

“Apparently Drew Edmondson is more schooled in power politics and trampling the rights of innocent people than in his basic obligation to uphold the law,” said Key, R-Oklahoma City. “Four times now Mr. Edmondson has taken an oath of office to ’support, obey and defend’ the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of Oklahoma — and to discharge his duties to the ‘best of his ability.’

“You shouldn’t make that vow if you’re not acquainted with the documents you are vowing to defend.” Key continued. “But how you can read them without seeing the parts about the right of citizens to petition their government and the right of Oklahoma citizens to act to bring an initiative question to ballot?

“And how can you defend these constitutionally protected rights by grasping at some trumped-up technicality to try to destroy innocent people for their good-faith efforts in helping Oklahoma citizens to exercise those rights?”

Edmondson will never honestly tackle these questions in public. He can’t, not without admitting his dereliction of duty and tendering his resignation.