WASHINGTON, DC -- Taxpayer advocate Paul Jacob figured his re-indictment by Oklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmondson would be a Thanksgiving turkey. Now he's hoping for A Christmas carol.

Jacob and two other activists were originally indicted by an Oklahoma grand jury in October on charges of breaking state laws governing the residency of individuals promoting citizens' initiatives, LNL reported Monday. The indictment has since been dismissed but Edmondson has stated he intends to re-file it.

In an interview today with LegalNewsLine, Jacob declared himself and fellow defendants Rick Carpenter and Susan Johnson innocent of the charges but nonetheless expects Edmondson to continue pursuing the case against him.

"He's tried to make out that [the indictment] was all the grand jury's doing," Jacob said. "But in fact this is all the Attorney General's work."

Despite the dismissal last month and negative publicity Edmondson has received nationally on the issue, Jacob thinks the AG will proceed but holds out some holiday hope. "I had expected the re-indictment to come before Thanksgiving but maybe there'll be a kind of Christmas carol here where the attorney general has a visit from the ghosts of Christmas past," he joked.

But in reality he expects Edmondson to make good on his indictment threat and is prepared for a preliminary grand jury hearing shortly and then a trial about one year later. The charges against the three carry a maximum penalty of 10 years imprisonment.

Jacob figures on going to trial following the hearing because of an old legal maxim that says a competent prosecutor "could get a grand jury to indict a ham sandwich."

The so-called "Oklahoma 3" were collecting signatures to place a taxpayer bill of rights (TABOR) initiative on the state ballot two years ago. The measure would cap government spending increases at the level of inflation plus population growth unless taxpayers later vote otherwise.

Jacob, who writes the column Common Sense for the pro-taxpayer Sam Adams Alliance, said Edmondson was pursuing the case because powerful interest groups that benefit from government spending oppose TABOR. He added that part of the intention was also to derail similar campaigns in other states by interests ranging from public-sector unions to subsidy-addicted corporations.

"This is a draconian action whose main purpose is frightening good people away from being involved in their government," he told LNL. "We did not violate the law but even if we had, this would still be an abusive prosecution."

Nonetheless, Jacob points to some positives already emerging from his indictment, including proposed Oklahoma legislation that would actually ease the process of placing citizens' initiatives on the state ballot. Jacob calls such a development "a miracle" considering politicians' traditional hostility to the whole idea of citizens making their own laws.

"It's a real sign that people are starting to wake up to the right to petition their government, although most states don't actually allow that right," he said. Oklahoma's restriction on collecting initiative signatures is "an unconstitutional law," he added.