I, like virtually every member of the California media and
good government community, was appalled when the group calling itself
Californians Against Identity Theft and Ballot Fraud, backed by the building
trades and pipe trades unions, broadcast a radio ad claiming -without evidence
— that signing an initiative petition put you at great risk for identity
fraud.
But now
that I’ve thought about it – and seen the new, revised ad from the same
mysterious group – I realize I was wrong to condemn this ad. I think the
admakers here are onto something. If anything, the group CAITBF doesn’t go far
enough.
Let’s look
at four messages of the CAITBF ad campaign that should be expanded to protect
all of us against the identity theft-related dangers of political
participation.
1. The ad’s message: Dangerous people could be signature
gatherers. The new revised version of the ad notes scarily that anyone can be a
signature gatherer, "even convicted felons or forgers."
Damn straight. But the ad would be more useful if it noted
that anyone can work as a political consultant or admakers, "even convicted
felons or forgers."
Yes, there have been relatively few
legal convictions against petition circulators around the country. But you
could say the same about consultants. And let’s face it: every single political
consultant is a potential identity thief.
In this era, political consultants
routinely access voter registration records and buy access to databases that
include all kinds of information about the purchases people make. What’s to
prevent political consultants from using that information for identity theft?
And what’s to prevent them from sharing with campaign workers, pollsters, mail
firms, hair and make-up people this data? Political campaigns, when you think
about them, offer, in the words of an Assembly committee report, "identity
fraud starter kits."
Clearly, we need the kinds of
reform for political consultants and all campaign participants that the ad
advocates for signature gatherers. Consultants, pollsters, and every volunteer
on a political campaign should have to be registered with the state and
licensed. And their pay should definitely be regulated and legislated by the
state.
Who could object to that?
2. The ad notes that last year
Oregon indicted two signature gatherers last year for aggravated identity
theft.
Now, cynical people who don’t take
the identity theft threat seriously might point out that Oregon isn’t California.
These cynics might even point out that Oregon has all the restrictions and
regulation of petition circulators that the backers of these ads advocate for
California. Oregon circulators are registered with the state. They are subject
to all kinds of checks. And they can’t be paid per-signature (this is the
so-called "bounty" payment – a wonderfully poll-tested word that merely
describes the standard per-signature method of paying circulators that has been
used in California since at least 1912).
And yet, Oregon is the place that
had identity theft. These cynics might suggest that even heavy regulation of
signature gathering is no protection against occasional identity theft.
But I see now that these cynics
would be wrong. If identity theft could happen in Oregon, the ideal for
petition circulation regulation, it could happen anywhere. Even if there’s no
record of this identity theft happening in California. It’s important to
prevent crime before it even happens.
3. You should be wary of signing
petitions because it means giving information to people.
Good advice, but not strong enough.
Registering to vote requires giving information to strangers. Do you really
know those people who sign you up to register? Or if you mail in your
registration, how can you trust all the people at the county registrar’s
office? Do any of them have a criminal past? How can you be sure that one of
them isn’t bent on identity theft?
Yep, voter registration is too
risky.
So is
joining any number of interest groups who participate in politics. They tend to
ask for your personal information too – name, address, phone numbers, sometimes
family information. Sometimes they ask for credit card information to process
membership dues. And while I’m thinking of it, those labor unions also get a
lot of personal and financial information on you. And I’ve read that sometimes
there are bad apples in those unions, who might have the opportunity to steal
money or your identity. I mean, it could happen. So it’s probably not a good
idea to join any of those unions. Yes, it’s nice to have representation on the
job, but any risk of identity theft, however small, is just too much to bear.