My name is Karen Sampson and this is my neighborhood.
I moved to this little unincorporated part
of Colorado because I wanted a nice home away
from the taxes and restrictions of the cities
and towns.
But then
a couple of residents of our neighborhood
decided that they wanted to be annexed into
the Town of Parker,
forcing us to pay higher taxes for worse public
services.  My neighbors and I wanted no part
of that.  We didn't want to pay more
for less so we did what any American would
do:
we gathered together to decide how we could
oppose the neighborhood's annexation.
Out of our own pockets we paid for things
like paper, magic markers and lawn signs.
We planted yard signs, walked the neighborhood
to talk to residents, and sent out postcards.
We printed flyers to inform our neighbors
about this fight and what it would mean to
them, but no sooner did we get started then
we got that knock on the door.
A lawsuit was filed against us by one of our political
opponents,
someone who favored annexation.
She demanded that before we speak, we register
with the government under Colorado's campaign
finance laws because we spent more than two
hundred dollars to speak to our neighbors
with things like signs and postage.
We became an issue committee under the state's
laws.
These forms are so complicated that when they
were tested on 255
people, not a single person filled them out correctly.
In the real world each person who filled out
the form incorrectly would have been subject
to fines and penalties just like we faced.
The manual alone telling us how to form an
issue committee is 98 pages.
98
pages just telling you how to fill out the
forms,
and it doesn't end there.
Throughout our fight we would have to file
report after report with the government
telling them not only who contributed to our campaign,
but forcing us to disclose the name and address
of their employer even if their employer had
nothing to do with our campaign.
A lot of people in our neighborhood removed
their "no annexation" signs after we got sued
because they were afraid of being sued as
well.
Simply put, Colorado's campaign finance laws
are designed to silence simple grassroots
groups like ours using red tape and lawsuits
aimed at shutting up political opponents.
Our political opponents wanted us to spend
more time, more money, and more effort defending
ourselves against this frivolous lawsuit
than fighting the annexation.
But thanks to the team at the Institute for
Justice we fought for the First Amendment
and our right to free speech.
The First Amendment was designed to protect
and encourage political speech and participation,
but that's exactly what laws like Colorado's
are suppressing.
Ultimately we won our fight against annexation
by a vote of 351
to 21,
but our fight for free speech continues.
No one should be afraid to speak about 
issues or politics for fear of being sued,
and no one should have to hire a lawyer to
put up a yard sign.
We're fighting this law side by side
because we want to make sure free speech
is protected and that no one else has to
go through what we did.
I want to thank you for supporting the Institute
for Justice.  Without your generosity IJ
never could have been there to support us
in our time of need.
Together we can continue the fight for free
speech.
My name is Karen Sampson and this is my neighborhood,
thank you for helping me fight for it.
