[VoteRescue] Related Topic: Oppose Illegal Police Checkpoints in TX TODAY!

Wed Oct 22 23:32:54 CDT 2008

/Dear VoteRescue Mailing List Members,

 From time to time, one of our partners in our coalition, Texans for 
_REAL_ Elections, will send us important alerts about pending government 
decisions, public hearings, legislative actions, etc. and have asked us 
to send them on to our mailing list members. By carefully evaluating 
each alert, we have tried to limit the number and frequency of these 
types of announcements because we know we will lose folks from our list 
if we let this get out of hand. We went to a totally moderated mailing 
list several months back to keep down the amount of mail traffic you 
receive from VoteRescue.  We greatly value our connection to all of you 
and do not want to take advantage of it.

However, given the growing number of serious political and social issues 
we all now face in our daily lives, we anticipate an increase in these 
types of "Related Topic" messages. It has reached a point when it seems 
that the more responsible action for us is take is to send more of these 
alerts on to you. They will be identified in the subject line as 
"Related Topic" because they ARE related to the work we all our doing to 
get our collective voice back through citizen-driven transparent 
elections. /

Now, for the first official "Related Topic" message for those of you who 
live here in Texas:

*The 5-11 Campaign, an Austin-based citizen effort to stop the 
implementation of the REAL ID, a.k.a., the /Voter ID/, is desperately 
gathering on-line signatures TODAY, October 22, 2008, for a petition to 
tell the Texas Attorney General, Greg Abbott, to NOT approve a request 
from the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) for an "Attorney 
General Opinion regarding the authority of the Public Safety Commission 
**to authorize statewide driver license checkpoints and /related 
questions". /Evidently, public input to the AG on this matter ends 
TODAY. Also, if your group is willing to join the coalition of groups 
signing on to a letter (see DRAFT below) being delivered tomorrow to TX 
Attorney General Greg Abbott, contact Sheila Dean IMMEDIATELY at 
310-857-8257 or 512-687-4069.*

*Here's what to do IMMEDIATELY:*

*1. Go to the 5-11 website to get more info about this issue:   
_http://www.511campaign.org/_

2. View the video, "Your Papers, Please", of a chilling TX checkpoint 
experience:   **_http://www.thenewspaper.com/rlc/docs/2008/tx-roadblock.pdf_
**
3. Sign the online petition:  
_http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/your-papers-please_

DRAFT of Letter to TX Attorney General.
Contact Sheila Dean **at 310-857-8257 or 512-687-4069** if your group 
will sign the letter:*

Texas Attorney General
ATTN:  Honorable Greg Abbot
209 W.14th St. 
Austin, TX 78701
PublicInformation at OAG.state.tx.us <mailto:PublicInformation at OAG.state.tx.us>

Dear Honorable Abbott,

We, The 5-11 Campaign , ask that you enter our letter as consideration 
in your decision making pertaining to random license checkpoints in the 
state of Texas.

Please acknowledge our letter of refusal to the Department of Public 
Safety for permissions as political body with sufficient powers to 
instill random license checkpoints in the State of Texas.

"The right of the [Texas] people [is] to be secure in their persons, 
houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, 
shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable 
cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the 
place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."  - The 
4th Amendment to The U.S. Constitution

We opposed voluntary citizenship checkpoints throughout the state of 
Texas on the following grounds:

- It is currently illegal in the state of Texas to expand the use of 
checkpoints in the State of Texas.

-  In the past 3 Texas Legislative sessions, the legislature has 
overwhelmingly opposed the use of checkpoints in the state of Texas for 
DUI's or any other reason.

- We oppose the use expanded use of our police enforcement officers 
provided to fight criminal activity to police those being stopped 
without probable cause.
Random license checkpoints are a tenuous violation of the 4th amendment, 
unlawful search and seizure without probable cause of criminal activity. 

-As the body of tax paying finance, we refuse all expenditures or 
resources to move forward for both permission and plan to institute 
checkpoints in the state of Texas.

- Texas state licenses are not yet federally compliant with the Real ID 
Act of 2005 in terms of citizenship documentation. There is no such 
legislation to enforce citizenship demand or requirements on licenses in 
the State of Texas.  Expenditures or enforcements based on the Real ID 
Act are voluntary for both States and individual citizens.  Stopping 
citizens on the basis of license evaluation for documented compliance 
with the Real ID Act, with current extensions, is excessive use of 
police enforcement resources.

On these terms we ask you to disallow the Department of Public Safety 
permissions to move forward regardless of determination of their office 
for the above reasons.

Please see the coalition of community leadership over the state of Texas 
opposing this on similar grounds below.

Sincerely,

Sheila Dean & The 5-11 Campaign
Terri Hall & Texas TURF
Sputnik & The Texas Motorcycle Riders Association
Jonny Weaver & (Austin Community College) Project for a New American 
Citizen
Penny Langford  for Governor 2010
VoteRescue.org
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