Two Basic Myths
Being Spread About J.A.I.L.
Tom Barnett Now Spreading
Propaganda Over National Radio
This morning, Monday November 7th, Tom
Barnett, Executive Director of the South Dakota Bar Association, was a guest on
the Al Franken Show of Air America, broadcasting over KTLK 1150 AM in Los
Angeles and heard across the country.
Al Franken is doing a program called "Fifty
States in Fifty Days" and he announced that today's state is South Dakota where
he laughingly said that they have a "crazy, crazy, crazy initiative in South
Dakota regarding the judiciary, and we will be discussing it after the
break."
After the break, at about 9:45 a.m. Pacific
time, Mr. Franken introduced his guest as none other than "Thomas Barnett, the
Executive Director of the South Dakota Bar Association." He asked Mr. Barnett if
he was speaking from South Dakota, and he said "No, I'm actually in Austin,
Texas." Mr. Franken asked him "What are you doing down there?" to which Thomas
Barnett responded that he was there campaigning against J.A.I.L.-- which
immediately brought to mind the question of whether he is making
a
speaking tour throughout the fifty states
bashing the South Dakota J.A.I.L. Initiative. He apparently realizes that
J.A.I.L. is a nationwide effort, and that South Dakota is just the first step in
the J.A.I.L. campaign. So, possibly be on the lookout for Tom Barnett of the
South Dakota State Bar appearing in your state peddling his propaganda about
J.A.I.L.
Mr. Barnett has not improved upon his
propaganda message; he is still touting the same two myths about J.A.I.L. that
he reported in several South Dakota newspapers, to which J.A.I.L.'s rebuttals
were also published. But our rebuttals haven't fazed Mr. Barnett in the least.
He didn't even attempt to offer some kind of reply to our rebuttal to his
original tripe, but merely repeated it.
In his first newspaper article, he titled it
"Read Before You Sign," but what he wrote indicated clearly that
he didn't read the initiative; or else, having read
it, he deliberately misrepresented it to the people, thinking that the people
wouldn't read it for themselves and would simply take his word for it. Being a
lawyer, and Director of the S.D. Bar Association, there is no doubt that Mr.
Barnett did read the J.A.I.L. Initiative, and read it very carefully-- not
missing one dotted "i" or crossed "t".
The nature of lawyers is to scrutinize any
written document, looking for any flaws or arguable principles before speaking
or acting on it. Lawyers generally check through a document to gain an
understanding of it and to present evidence of the points he chooses to cover in
exposing it. Even if he has a misunderstanding of what the document presents in
writing, a lawyer generally starts from the wording of the
document in any event. There is no doubt that Mr. Barnett
has practically memorized the South Dakota J.A.I.L. Initiative by now.
Nevertheless, he continues to spread the following two myths about the
Initiative:
1. J.A.I.L. is about suing
judges if you don't like their decisions.
2. J.A.I.L. will allow convicted
criminals to be released from prison to serve on the Special Grand
Jury.
Regarding Myth No.
1, J.A.I.L. has nothing to do with court decisions on the merits of
a case. It deals only with procedural actions that
violate constitutional requirements. If a decision is arrived at based on
procedural violations that fail to comport with the 1787 Constitution and laws
in pursuance thereof, it is null and void as repugnant to the Constitution. A
decision in that instance is no more valid than the procedures used to derive
it.
Mr. Barnett used the illustration to Mr.
Franken: "Suppose you were visiting Mount Rushmore and you were arrested, and at
trial you were denied the use of hearsay evidence and was found guilty. You
could then sue the judge because you didn't like his decision. After three
times, it's three strikes and he's off the bench." Mr. Franken responded
"Sounds like it would interfere with the independence of the judiciary" to which
Mr. Barnett agreed.
In �2, the specific violations stated in the
Initiative are:
-- Any deliberate violation of
law
-- Fraud or conspiracy
-- Intentional violation of due process of
law
-- Deliberate disregard of material
facts
-- Judicial acts without
jurisdiction
-- Blocking of a lawful conclusion of a
case
-- Any deliberate violation of the
Constitutions of [the state] or the United States, notwithstanding Common Law or
any other contrary statute.
Regarding Myth No.
2, it is absurd on its face. �12 of the Initiative states, in
pertinent part: "Those not eligible for Special Grand Jury service shall
include elected and appointed officials, members of the State Bar, judges
(active or retired), judicial, prosecutorial and law enforcement personnel,
without other exclusion except previous adjudication
of mental incapacity, imprisonment, or parole from a
conviction of a felonious crime against persons." [Emphasis
added]
According to what the Initiative sets forth,
"imprisonment" is another exclusion to Special Grand
Jury eligibility. Therefore, unlike the propaganda of Mr. Barnett,
no imprisoned inmates are qualified. I'm sure he knows
that, but chooses to alarm the public with this absurdity, hoping the people
won't read it for themselves.
We were surprised that Al Franken didn't ask
Mr. Barnett for a website where people could read the Initiative and get other
information about J.A.I.L. We were even more surprised that he didn't give out a
phone number for people to call in regarding this issue. Air America claims to
be talk radio, and yet no opportunity for the public to discuss this issue was
provided by the Al Franken Show.
Ron went to the local studio of Air
America, identified himself, and requested an opportunity to call in to the
Al Franken Show to rebut Mr. Barnett's propaganda. Ron was given a phone number
to call and the man (name given as "Dan") answering said that he was
screening calls and didn't have time to take Ron's call, and HUNG UP ON HIM
--three times!
It is our understanding that Attorney Gary
Zerman will attempt to call in tomorrow on the Al Franken Show. It remains to be
seen whether J.A.I.L. will be given equal time to oppose the disinformation by
Mr. Barnett.
-Barbie