Why I don't like to sign petitions
I have to admit I have a natural aversion to signing petitions. What it comes down to is that usually you have to take a random stranger's word that your name, address, and signature are going to be used for what they say they are. In what other scenario would you do that?
Case in point: couple of guys parked outside Prego (17th and Corcoran) this weekend, collecting signatures. I scooted by them so I could get in and buy a sandwich without being hit up for whatever it was they wanted, and then I was able to sit on the sidewalk terrace and watch them as I ate my lunch.
Their pitch to passers-by was "do you want to sign a petition calling for more DC lottery money to go to public schools?" Sounds good, right? A lot of people stopped and signed without wanting to know any more than that. But a few more knowledgeable people asked more detailed questions, which led to a more complicated story having to do with legalized gambling in southeast, and I got the distinct impression that in fact, that might be what this petition was about. Seemed a little disingenous to me.
Then a guy who apparently really knows what's going on asked one of the signature-collectors if he was from DC, and the guy told him no, at which point the guy lectured him and said that an earlier intiative had been thrown out for just that reason. (When I got home I looked it up on Washingtonpost.com and DCist and he was right: more details here and here.) So what we actually had going on there was not an effort to support public schools, but what looked like an incredibly dishonest effort to collect signatures for legalized gambling.
A few other observations: one of the signature collectors, the one from out of town, stopped his efforts for a good 20 minutes to hit on a woman who'd just given her name and address to him upon signing. Flattered by the attention, she told him all about the non-profit she worked at, impressed that she thought she'd met another do-gooder, rather than an out-of-town hack out earning $2 a signature from some faceless corporate entity.
It was funny to see some of the responses of people who didn't want to sign: many of them just stormed by without acknowledging them; a number of people said they weren't from DC, and in a few cases that seemed to probably not be true; and one woman said "I'm late for my yoga class." A variety of other lame excuses were offered up, and the signature collectors jokingly argued with many of them, but when a couple of women yelled at them "we're totally against gambling" they didn't even try to offer a response. Conversely, a homeless guy wanted to sign, and they tried to put him off with questions about his fixed address, but finally let him sign it.
In retrospect, a good question to ask such people would be "who hired you to do this?" And the moral of the story here definitely is: be careful what you sign. It is amazing to see how many people on 17th Street this weekend signed a petition for legalized gambling thinking they were helping kids.
Case in point: couple of guys parked outside Prego (17th and Corcoran) this weekend, collecting signatures. I scooted by them so I could get in and buy a sandwich without being hit up for whatever it was they wanted, and then I was able to sit on the sidewalk terrace and watch them as I ate my lunch.
Their pitch to passers-by was "do you want to sign a petition calling for more DC lottery money to go to public schools?" Sounds good, right? A lot of people stopped and signed without wanting to know any more than that. But a few more knowledgeable people asked more detailed questions, which led to a more complicated story having to do with legalized gambling in southeast, and I got the distinct impression that in fact, that might be what this petition was about. Seemed a little disingenous to me.
Then a guy who apparently really knows what's going on asked one of the signature-collectors if he was from DC, and the guy told him no, at which point the guy lectured him and said that an earlier intiative had been thrown out for just that reason. (When I got home I looked it up on Washingtonpost.com and DCist and he was right: more details here and here.) So what we actually had going on there was not an effort to support public schools, but what looked like an incredibly dishonest effort to collect signatures for legalized gambling.
A few other observations: one of the signature collectors, the one from out of town, stopped his efforts for a good 20 minutes to hit on a woman who'd just given her name and address to him upon signing. Flattered by the attention, she told him all about the non-profit she worked at, impressed that she thought she'd met another do-gooder, rather than an out-of-town hack out earning $2 a signature from some faceless corporate entity.
It was funny to see some of the responses of people who didn't want to sign: many of them just stormed by without acknowledging them; a number of people said they weren't from DC, and in a few cases that seemed to probably not be true; and one woman said "I'm late for my yoga class." A variety of other lame excuses were offered up, and the signature collectors jokingly argued with many of them, but when a couple of women yelled at them "we're totally against gambling" they didn't even try to offer a response. Conversely, a homeless guy wanted to sign, and they tried to put him off with questions about his fixed address, but finally let him sign it.
In retrospect, a good question to ask such people would be "who hired you to do this?" And the moral of the story here definitely is: be careful what you sign. It is amazing to see how many people on 17th Street this weekend signed a petition for legalized gambling thinking they were helping kids.
9 Comments:
I think this may be why I haven't signed a petition since fifth grade. It was to get peas off the lunch menu...
But that's a cause worth agitating for!
Petition signing/gathering signatures has been under real scrutiny in Portland, exposing the out of town labor pool hired by special interest groups as well as downright misleading collectors.
The most recent ruse involves younger, 'hipper' tatted/pierced folks gathering signatures for some legalize pot initiative that's really a lead in to much more conservative issues.
I've gotten in the habit of saying "I don't live here" which is ludicrous every time I'm asked on the bus mall with my monthly bus pass!
sfrances
Sfrances, that's exactly what the guys I saw were like, tattooed hipsters-for-hire!
Being new to Portland, I was surprised at the sheer number of petitions. They aren't just standing outside the Trader Joe's or downtown. One guy stood up on the MAX (PDX's lightrail train), gave a speech about legalizing marijuana and asked people to sign.
I heard his whole speech, but feigned deafness due to my headphones when he walked over to me.
Lately, I've been hearing radio spots encouraging people to actually read petitions before signing to fully understand what the initiative is trying accomplish.
Yes, these slimeballs haven't been able to hire DC folks to gather signatures for them (and are thus illegally using out-of-towners) because last time around they never paid the DC folks they did hire. Fortunately they've decided not to file their fradulent petitions for now, so we won't have to deal with their slots initiative this November, but they'll be back.
That's good that they gave up, because the more I thought about their unethical tactics, the madder I got!
more on fraudulant practices:
http://www.portlandmercury.com/portland/Content?oid=45426&category=34029
(alvenable: welcome to portland!)
sfrances
This gives me another excuse to not feel guilty for even stopping for a second.
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