A Baltimore grand jury will hear testimony next week on the possible forgery of petitions and other irregularities in a failed referendum to impose term limits on city elected officials.
On Feb. 24, the grand jury is scheduled to begin reviewing allegations that some of the nearly 30,000 signatures gathered by Marylanders for Term Limits were forged, sources said yesterday. Last year's petition drive, billed as a grass-roots crusade to phase out "career politicians," was heavily financed by a national group that is under scrutiny for its role in similar initiatives in three other states.
Morning Sunday, a Waverly community activist who hired people to canvass the city for signatures, said she has received a subpoena to bring documents relating to the ill-fated petition drive when she appears before the panel.
The attempt to place the term-limit issue on the city ballot failed when a judge ruled in October that the proposed referendum question was vague and violated the Maryland and U.S. constitutions.
The national group, U.S. Term Limits, has been under fire for its methods of obtaining signatures on referendums. Roll Call, a weekly paper that covers Capitol Hill, has reported that authorities in North Dakota, Oklahoma and Utah were trying to determine whether signatures were forged or obtained out-of-state for measures in those states.
But State Prosecutor Stephen Montanarelli apparently is focusing on local activities. In addition to searching for evidence of fraud and forgery, investigators are trying to determine whether perjury laws were broken.