Only 15 days remain to make any difference whatsoever in the outcome of this petition
drive. In two weeks and a day there will be nothing you can do at all to roll back your
income tax and keep the promise still being broken by a greedy Legislature and especially
its disingenuous leaders.
Overconfidence did us in by a mere 26 signatures in 1997-98. After the fact, so
many moaned at the skin-of-our-teeth loss and recognized that they could have
made the difference, they could have done a little bit more -- or even a little bit at
all and they could have changed the outcome. But their realization came too
late to help.
In another two weeks such a revelation will again be just as late and just as
useless. This time, we are not interested in hearing any guilt-fed recriminations. This
time you know what can happen, and you know what to do to prevent it.
Overconfidence is a killer, and it is stalking us again.
The following e-mail message was received over the weekend by one of our
volunteers, who forwarded it to us wondering if it could be true.
"The Tax Cut Petition Drive is going great. To date we have eclipsed the
number of signatures needed to place the question on the ballot, and we will surely reach
our goal of 110,000 collected signatures."
Barbara quickly responded:
"We just learned Friday that another petition group turned in a sample 12,000
signatures to the Secretary of State, and lost 40 percent of them: the usual 20 percent
from the city/town clerks for non-registered voters, illegibles, etc., and another 20
percent from the Secretary, mostly for markings.
That means that even if we did have 120,000 to turn in, we could drop to around
70,000, which is not enough to discourage a challenge and might not be enough to win one.
Anyone who is overconfident at this point is an idiot, and you can quote me.
Barbara Anderson
This is why it is far, far too soon to declare victory, and why every
single signature you can contribute to the drive will be critically essential
to the drive's success.
What that overconfident rookie failed to recognize is, in a petition drive, it
ain't over 'till it's over, and these days, it ain't over until we win or ward off the
inevitable legal challenges ahead.
If you need further motivation to act while there is still time for it to
mean something, read the story from today's Boston Globe, below.
 |
Chip Ford |
Had enough yet?
Had enough yet? If so, now you can actually do something about
your own political and financial survival!
If you haven't requested your petition package yet, you've got only 15 days
left before the absolute deadline! Click below while you still have time to save
yourself from rapacious greed and limitless self-interest -- or you have nobody to
blame for it but yourself!
Get your petition package -- while
there is still time!
As always, thanks to those of you already with us who are out there practicing the
only means of political self-defense remaining, collecting signatures for the initiative
petition process.
The Boston Globe
Tuesday, November 2, 1999
Petition bids face tougher scrutiny
Ruling has invalidated thousands of signatures
By Michael Rezendes
Globe Staff
Citizens groups fanning out across the state to gather signatures to put questions
before voters next year may have a tough time getting them on the ballot, Secretary of
State William F. Galvin said yesterday.
A July decision by the Supreme Judicial Court that said any stray pen marks on
petition sheets invalidate entire pages of signatures has already caused Galvin to toss
out more than 2,000 signatures for a ballot question on drug treatment.
If that trend holds, Galvin said, it could spell trouble for proposed questions
ranging from an income tax cut to an initiative for patient bill of rights.
"My problem is we have citizens who are absolutely certified to exercise
their rights but are having their signatures disqualified because something happened to
the paper they signed," Galvin said. "It's very troubling because it undercuts
the whole initiative process."
With a crucial deadline looming, Galvin said other groups are likely to fail to
gain a spot on the ballot unless they gather significantly more than the 57,100 signatures
required by law.
"In practical terms they're all going to have to get a surplus far beyond the
requirement," Galvin said.
Under state law, petitioners are required to submit signatures to city and town
officials by Nov. 17 - Nov. 22 in Boston. The clerks scan the lists to make sure the
signers are registered voters at valid addresses. By Dec. 1, the signatures must be
forwarded to the secretary of state's office, where they are scrutinized under the new SJC
ruling.
The SJC decision and the resulting disqualification of thousands of signatures is
being decried by citizen activists, who believe it discourages grass-roots groups from
participating in government.
Barbara Anderson of Citizens for Limited Taxation,
which has joined forces with Governor Paul Cellucci in gathering signatures for a state
income tax rollback, said the decision will encourage
ballot-question opponents to challenge signatures in hopes of avoiding statewide political
campaigns.
"The tactic now is to challenge the process
itself instead of fighting an honest battle on the issues," Anderson said.
Meanwhile yesterday, a school-choice group on the losing end of the SJC's July
ruling said it is preparing to appeal to the US Supreme Court, even as it collects
signatures for a 2000 ballot initiative that would remove the state constitutional
prohibition against public aid to private and parochial schools.
"The court has taken a principle that might apply to the sanctity of the
ballot box and applied it to the reality of gathering signatures at the local mall,"
said Cornelius Chapman of the Committee for Parental Choice in Education. "If you
have someone trying to get their pen working or spilling some of their Orange Julius,
you're screwed."
But officials with the Massachusetts Teachers Association, which blocked an income
tax rollback initiative two years ago by questioning proponents' signatures, said
challenges to voter petitions are part of the democratic process.
"If anyone files invalid signatures on an issue that's harmful to public
school children or public education, we're going to challenge them," said MTA
president Stephen Gorrie. "I don't think there's anything underhanded about
that."
In its unanimous ruling, the SJC said state law "does not permit any
alterations of forms whether by copying machine, petition circulator or petition
signer."
Under the ruling, Galvin's office has had to disqualify otherwise valid signatures
because a signer scribbled at the top of a page to get a ballpoint pen working. Others
were disqualified because of colorful errant marks -- perhaps made by a child -- from a
felt tip pen.
Galvin hasn't disqualified any signatures because of food or beverage stains but
said petitions with these markings are open to challenge under the recent ruling.
"If it's a close call we'll be making it in favor of the voters, but we've
also got to abide by the law," Galvin said.
Galvin also warned that citizens groups gathering signatures today at polling
places for municipal elections could face additional trouble if they fail to meet a
requirement that they stay at least 150 feet from the polls.
NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this
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