The answer: it’s not clear.
Here’s the scoop.
John Grubb of Repair California, the committee that’s
seeking to qualify ballot initiatives to call a constitutional convention for
the state, recently explained to me his group’s unconventional strategy for
signature gathering.
Instead of doing a conventional signature gathering drive,
with one of the big California firms and paid gatherers, Repair California is
trying to use the signature gathering process to help build an organization.
The effort combines social networking functions on the Internet and a volunteer
signature drive. Repair California is supplementing these efforts with some
paid signature gatherers.
This approach makes sense – as long as Repair California
gets enough signatures to qualify its two measures (one to permit the people to
call a convention, the other to call the convention). Having an organization is
critical to Repair California because it has to do more than just win two
initiative campaigns; it will have to build public support for a convention,
and then convince voters to adopt whatever a convention produces.
"We want to have people on the ground when we’re done,"
Grubb said.
Repair’s strategy has upset some signature gatherers in
California. Some firms and coordinators see the hybrid strategy – of using some
volunteer gathering and some paid to fill in what they don’t get via volunteer – as cutting into their
business. Others worry about a different sort of threat to initiative volume —
that a constitutional convention might result in restrictions on the initiative
process.
A few signature gatherers have become angry enough to
threaten to "blacklist" anyone who works on the constitutional convention
petitions. In the signature gathering game, a blacklist, in effect, would
prevent circulators from working on other petitions if they work for con con. A
page calling for a blacklist of signature gatherers working on the convention
petitions was put up – and then taken down – from the web site ballotpedia this
week. (You can see the remains here).
No one else would talk for the record. A veteran signature gatherer who I trust
told me: "The rumor has spread that anyone working the Constitutional
Convention petition may be put on a unofficial blacklist." The rumor, while
persistent, remains a rumor.
California’s regular network of petition circulators does
not appear to be circulating the petitions right now. I checked in with several
veteran petition circulators across Southern California this week, and none of
them were carrying it. (The four initiatives that were actively circulating
were: redistricting reform for Congressional districts, reforming term limits,
protecting local transportation revenue and raising the vehicle license fee to
fund parks).
Repair California is paying its own gatherers $1.25 a signature, according to this posting on Craigslist, which gives the number of Repair’s San Diego office.
There are also indications that Repair may be approaching smaller, out-of-state firms. An Arizona signature gathering firm owner told me he was recently contacted by signature gatherers working with Repair about coming to California to work the con con petition.
UPDATE ON THE DELETED ‘BLACKLIST’ PAGE ON BALLOTPEDIA
Leslie Graves of Ballotpedia emails to explain what happened with the page: “When I noticed that John Wynn, Jr., a frequent volunteer on Ballotpedia who is also a petition circulator, had put up a page about the Petition Blacklist, I made some inquiries and concluded that John was using the page on BP essentially as a blog, or outside website…i.e., as if the page was the sponsoring location for the Petition Blacklist. I told him this would violate our 501c3 status and probably also some laws against electioneering, because a non-profit can’t sponsor an advocacy page. When made aware of these considerations, he went ahead and deleted the page.”