This past Friday, supporters of the so-called “Civil Rights Initiative” [0] measure to ban affirmative action programs in Oklahoma withdrew their petition, so Oklahoma voters will not vote on the issue in November.   
 
California millionaire Ward Connerly had targeted Oklahoma (and Missouri) for 2008 as part of a long-term national strategy to eliminate education and business opportunities for women and minorities state by state.   

From the Tulsa World [1]:

“The Secretary of State's Office counted 141,184 signatures on the petition but found a large number of duplicate names and addresses.”  

Could it be…more fraud from Connerly's group?

We’ve already seen examples of fraud out of this right-wing front group in Michigan, where a judge found fraud in collecting signatures to get the issue on the ballot.

And just last week, there was an article describing the deceptive practices used to get it on the ballot in Colorado.  

From the New York Times [2]:

“…Bill Vandenberg, a co-chairman of Colorado Unity, said his group had fielded complaints over how the signatures were collected and was considering taking Mr. Connerly to court and filing a legal challenge with Colorado’s secretary of state, Mike Coffman.

Although Mr. Coffman’s office has deemed the number of valid signatures sufficient, it has also referred three complaints of deceitful soliciting to an administrative law judge, said Richard Coolidge, a spokesman for the secretary of state…”

Here in Missouri, first, Ward Connerly and Missouri Puppet Tim Asher, tried to deceive Missouri voters by pushing a misleading language that made it sound like their measure protects puppies and kittens and ends discrimination forever.  But what it really does is it bans affirmative action programs that help minorities and women.  Now they are out there circulating their petition pages in our state and lord only knows what their paid henchmen are telling Missouri voters.  Don't be fooled, and don't let this get on the ballot [2].