File Photo Charles Tuttle gives thumbs up as he stands alongside his travel trailer as he stumped across the state a few years ago in a U.S. House race. He ran for N.D. Superintendent of Public Instruction in the June primary.

A Minot man known for his grassroots efforts to bring change through the ballot box has a new project.

Charles Tuttle is proposing grassroots initiatives to amend certain city and county home-rule charters to allow grand jury investigations. The investigations could look into actions of government officials, medical officials or others in attempts to uncover corruption, said Tuttle, who already has home-rule initiative petitions circulating in Bismarck and Dickinson.

“Citizens will have the power to go out and find out what’s going on. Right now, we have a lot of things going on that don’t seem right — with the election, with the COVID. This is a way in which the citizens can investigate,” Tuttle said.

He chastised the Legislature for holding a special session to divvy up federal dollars after declining to hold a special session to address the controls placed on the population related to the pandemic.

“They couldn’t care less about the people of North Dakota. Their livelihoods are being threatened and those guys are worried about how they can divide these loaves of bread,” he said.

In addition, Tuttle is drafting home-rule initiatives that would prohibit mask or COVID-19 vaccine mandates.

He said he hopes to submit his initiatives to the City of Minot this week. The city would have up to 10 days to review the petitions’ formats, he said. If approved, petitions can be circulated for signatures.

The grand jury initiative proposes to amend Minot’s home-rule charter to adopt language providing for grand juries to be called either by the municipal judge, city council or by petition signed by electors equal to at least 10% of the total vote cast in the city for governor in the last election. That 10% amounts to 1,915 signatures in Minot, according to election information from the Ward County Auditor’s Office.

Tuttle said home-rule petitions require three sponsors, but he is aiming for six to nine in addition to himself.

Initiative sponsors need signatures on the initiative petitions equal to at least 15% of the total votes cast in the city at the most recent presidential election. That number is 2,916 signatures in Minot, according to county election results.

Sponsors can circulate petitions for up to a year, Tuttle said. If signatures are validated once submitted, the city council then can adopt the language or call an election within 60 days.

Similar petitions are being drafted or have been submitted for Cass County, Grand Forks, Devils Lake and Williams County, along with the two in circulation.

Tuttle said his grand jury initiative would bring back certain portions of former state law, which legislators had amended in 2013. Tuttle, at the time, was circulating petitions to call grand juries against public figures and agencies, including then Gov. Jack Dalrymple for bribery.

Tuttle said an important feature of the initiative is its allowance for grand juries when public officials are charged with misdemeanor corruption, which would disqualify them from holding elected office if convicted. State law allows for grand juries only for suspected felonious conduct by public officials.

Tuttle said he supports investigations into why Gov. Doug Burgum established a political action committee that has used funds to campaign against fellow Republican Party office holders. A grand jury could investigate the state’s hospitals to determine whether the care they are providing is based on best practices or the most income, he said, citing the medical preference for remdesivir, a medication used against Ebola, over ivermectin, an anti-parasitic medication, despite an increased risk of kidney failure reported with remdesivir.

“I don’t know what is going on but it doesn’t sound right,” he said. “Those are things I am curious about.”

Tuttle’s second initiative would prohibit:

– discrimination based on a person’s vaccination status.

– possession of an immunity passport.

– public and private employers from forcing vaccinations on employees or the public.

– forced testing for the SARS-CoV-2 virus or its antibodies.

– any type of mandatory masking

– the offering of anything of pecuniary value in exchange for getting vaccinated.

The initiative includes a fine on violators of $10,000 for employers of 50 or more and $1,000 for employers of fewer than 50.

Tuttle said health care workers and employees at a variety of businesses in the state are losing their jobs because they are refusing the COVID-19 vaccine. Political figures are using their leverage to coerce members of the public to act against their wills, he said.

“We need to investigate this,” he said, “and people need to go to jail if they deserve to. I am not accusing anyone of anything criminal, but it sure smells to high heaven.”