CA: Signature-gathering firms hustling democracy along

Sac Bee ^ | 3/20/05 | Andy Furillo

[NormsRevenge]

"Democracy on speed" is what one expert calls it, where professionals hustle signatures on the street for multimillion-dollar petition merchants, one name and about one dollar at a time.

With Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger threatening to call a special election for November, the signature-gathering industry is ramping toward an all-time peak, rivaling last year's record in which political campaigns spent $24.2 million to put their initiatives before voters, according to the secretary of state's office.

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"It makes politics more convenient," said Bryan Kenney, 23, of Sacramento. "It's the only real kind of politics I ever get. My mom is a teacher at Christian Brothers (High School), and I get a little feedback on things from her, and I watch a little TV. But I think a lot of people don't pay attention to politics at all. This brings it more to the people. This throws it up in their face."

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This week, paid petition circulators were gathering signatures on three of the governor's issues (redistricting, pensions and teacher tenure) and five others.

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Thirty-five other petitions also were circulating as of Friday, but without paid signature gatherers. Twenty-eight more were awaiting title and summary from the state attorney general's office.

"It's a cash cow for all these people, for everyone in the signature-gathering business," said Ted Costa, the conservative activist whose People's Advocate organization rounded up the signatures two years ago to recall former Gov. Gray Davis.

It's an industry largely controlled by a half-dozen professional firms, working through a few dozen coordinators scattered with geographic precision throughout the state. The coordinators, in turn, employ crew chiefs who round up the thousands of circulators to stand in front of big-box stores and supermarkets, hawking democracy.

[holyscroller]

I love Initiatives and Referendums. It's our (citizen's) only way to rein in runaway laws and legislators. Here in Washington state, they're trying to take away our right to law by Initiative. Pray that never happens!

P.S. Paid signature gatheres don't both me..just free enterprise in action. If the sponsors of the initiative can raise the money to hire the signature gatherers that just proves it's a popular issue.