OCPA Scholar: Edmondson's 'Unjust Prosecution' an Embarrassment
January 08, 2008
In a commentary in the December 19 issue of the Oklahoma
Gazette, OCPA adjunct scholar Andrew Spiropoulos argues that
Attorney General Drew Edmondson’s “unjust prosecution” of
taxpayer activists is “profoundly wrongheaded.”
“Most Americans don’t know Oklahoma,” writes Spiropoulos, a
law professor at Oklahoma City University, “but many assume
we are a parochial people, hostile to outsiders, and saddled
with a reactionary and partisan political establishment.
Unfairly or not, Edmondson’s decision to prosecute political
activists, for what most observers see as the crime of
coming to Oklahoma to advocate their cause, confirms
everything they think about us. If Edmondson cares about the
state as much as he professes, he will drop this case before
it embarrasses us further.”
In a November 19 editorial (‘Oklahoma’s Most Wanted’), The
Wall Street Journal had informed the nation that “a veteran
political activist is facing 10 years in prison and a hefty
fine for attempting to petition government for redress of
grievances. The latest news from Pakistan? No, this is
happening in Oklahoma.”
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