My Downtown Encounter With A Paid Petition Gatherer
Yesterday, I was at the corner of Sixth Avenue and Yamhill downtown.
A signature-gatherer intercepted me and told me about a petition he would like me to sign. Something about “free education for all Oregonians.”
“If you sign this petition, you can help all Oregonians get access to free education by 2004,” he told me.
Then I said, well, this is 2006.
“Oh, that’s right,” he replied.
Then I noticed something on his person that indicated to me he might be a paid signature gatherer.
It was then, people, that my moo-goo detector went on high gain.
See, I’ve seen too many cleverly worded petition initiatives for referenda that do the opposite of what their titles say. The kind of initiatives that have been sponsored by Bill Sizemore, Don McIntyre, and others who have plagued Oregon with ideas that aren’t good for the civic, environmental and social good of this state.
I did a quick assessment, and not being familiar with what he was pushing, thought to myself that if this petition-gatherer really believed in what he was asking me, a registered voter to endorse, he would at least know what year this was.
But if he was getting paid to push this stuff, then maybe all he cares about is getting paid by his petition-sponsor.
Maybe even a petition sponsor who works for an organization deft at cloaking selfish initiatives in warm and fuzzy names.
I won’t play that game. I walked away, and felt good about doing so.
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You could ask to see a copy of the initiative and read it for yourself. A signature gatherer is required to carry a full copy.
If you choose to mock the folks that seem to need a job that is quite another problem all by itself than the mere contents of an initiative.
There are enough well-crafted deceptions to go around without the need to extrapolate from the caliber of a person that gathers signatures.
Who knows, maybe they had been on unemployment and would have been denied further benefits had they refused the job offer.
If someone is getting paid to gather signatures and not being especially truthful about the iniative, thats a major red flag. Either the person doesn’t know what they’re asking people to sign or they’re deliberately lying.
Neither is acceptable.
Further, if they are being paid, find out what their rate is. It is illegal in Oregon to by paid by the signature (Measure 26–passed in 2002).
It is unrealistic to expect that a signature gather would have as good a grasp of the issues as a paid professional public relations spokesperson for Nike. Sure, Nike has lots of grunts, even some in China, but would you rely on the message of Nike if you heard it only through a Chinese employee of Nike?
The grunt is there to make a signature sheet available. That is it, nothing more.
Report it to the Elections Division.