Petitioners Experience Harassment &Threats

   (Editor’s Note: For the past month signature gathers/petitioners you see on the street, in front of stores, and even knocking on your door, have come under heavy negative attacks. Lost in the attacks is the fact that the petitioner on the street is just a working person trying to earn some money and for the most part, are honest citizens. One of these petitioners is an occasional writer for La Prensa San Diego, Vivian Dunbar. The following is her perspective as a person in the trenches facing the escalating harassment of the petition worker.)

Commentary:
By Vivian Marlene Dunbar

   America’s first amendment rights are being challenged on a daily basis here in San Diego lately: the battlegrounds are our neighborhood storefronts and shopping centers.

   Most local shoppers have encountered at least one person holding a clip board and asking them, “are you a registered voter,” then asking them to sign a ballot initiative. Unfortunately, to those holding that clip board, most shoppers seem quite unaware as to what a “petition” actually is. Petitioners, or circulators as they are sometimes called, are often seen as store front nuisances, and most recently, because of a very negative news campaign to discourage voters from signing petitions, as potential identity thieves.

   Our local storefront petitioner is providing voters with an opportunity to let their voice be heard by helping get an issue on the ballot. The signature is never a “yes” or “no”, simply an agreement that the issue should be put to vote. Usually, these petitions present an issue that has been of current concern to the general public on either the local, city, county or state level. Petitioners also bring hundreds of new and updated voter registrations to their respective offices each week.

   Petitioners are protected by First Amendment Free Speech rights, as well as California laws and city codes, which include the right of anyone conducting peaceful political activities to have access to any place that the public may go, including parking lots and store fronts.

   According to Wikipedia, “In the US, the right to petition is guaranteed by the first amendment to the Federal Constitution which specifically prohibits Congress from abridging “The right of the people…to petition the government for a redress of grievances” “The right to petition is fundamental in a representative democracy, such as the US, as means of protecting public participation in government.”

   One of the very first significant uses of the petition in our country was to abolish slavery, by petitioning Congress back in 1830. 13,000 signatures were collected.

   Our right to petition has been firmly upheld by our Supreme Court on numerous occasions, proving that it is considered an inalienable right.

   I myself circulate petitions on a part time basis, and would like to share my experiences and that of my fellow petitioners, with San Diego readers.

   Despite the power of these first amendment laws, the average petitioner is routinely disrespected. Shoppers often accuse the petitioner of being a “hustler,” or “peddler.” One of the female petitioners was actually called “a signature whore.” Major stores place signs next to the petitioner, assuring shoppers that they “do not support solicitors or petitioners in front of their store” and further advise the shoppers “not to sign their petitions.” Almost all petitioners have had bad experiences with individual store managers around the county: some stories of hostile managers are traded like war stories between petitioners. A variety of attempts are made to discourage petitioners, often these will include a threat to call the police. Local police do know the first amendment laws, as well as the city codes.

   Lately, a very negative media campaign has included an advertisement warning shoppers not to sign petitions because of the possibility that their information will be used for identity theft. One ad goes so far as to suggest that the signatures “will be sold to India” and that signature gatherers are potential criminals.

   According to Jane Tomczac, owner of Victory Consultants, a firm that manages signature gathering, “all petitioners are subjected to a thorough background check before becoming independent contractors for Victory Consultants.” Mrs. Tomczac’s North Park company has been serving the San Diego area for over 20 years.

   Three of the petitions being currently circulated are “labor sensitive,” or, according to some, out and out “anti-union.” This perception disregards the purpose of all petitions, which is merely to get an issue on the ballot.

   In the Zip code area of 92154 and other city zip code areas, home of the “pension petition”, petitioners are being harassed by union blockers. These are men who show up at the store, usually in a small group, and commence to interrupting petitioners as they try to gather signatures. The situation has gotten so bad that petition offices are giving out phone numbers to circulators to call if confronted by blockers. Anti-blockers arrive; attempt to runoff the union blockers. Often the police, who can’t really do much other than keep a brawl from occurring, show up as well. This commotion has been occurring on an almost daily basis in front of stores in the Clairmont area and other locations around the city. Petitioners have also had to endure being videotaped by people who refuse to identify themselves. One lady petitioner arrived at the north park office in tears after being harassed by union blockers.

   In regards to the charge of identity thief I have had to explain to people that the information we collect is the same as what anyone could find in the telephone book. I also add that we are registered with offices around the city and cannot just simply hang out in front of a store registering people to vote and gathering signatures.

   The most disheartening thing I myself and other petitioners encounter in our daily work is, not the negative TV ads, or hostile store owners, but the attitudes of the people passing by. Many, many people just say “I don’t ever sign those things!” “I stopped voting years ago!” Or “the government just always does what it wants anyway!” About 60-70% of shoppers are in too much of a hurry to stop and sign an initiative. Worse, most people, if asked, are clueless as to what their First Amendment Rights are, or what they stand for. People seem to have lost an interest in their country.

   In some states, legislators are attempting to pass laws that will restrict petitioners in different ways, including attempting to control what we say and how we say it.

   Unfortunately it seems that a petitioner, trying to gather signatures for a ballot initiative in front of our neighborhood grocery store, might been seen a bit like a bald eagle, a symbol of our American democracy, in danger of becoming extinct.