Legislator proposes new requirements for petition circulators

[The Straight Story]

Legislator proposes new requirements for petition circulators


PHOENIX — A state lawmaker wants a new hurdle for individuals and groups who propose their own state laws and constitutional amendments.

HCR 2005, proposed by Rep. John Kavanagh, R-Fountain Hills, would require that at least half of the signatures needed to put future issues on the ballot be gathered by those who have not been paid for their efforts. Petition drives that get the necessary signatures but can't meet that volunteer threshold would be disqualified.

“It's a perversion of our system that a millionaire can hire a bunch of people to get signatures and grossly finance a campaign to pass something,” said Kavanagh. “That's not democratic. I just want us to return to the grass-roots process it was supposed to be.”

Voters who want to craft a law themselves need to get the signatures of 10 percent of the total who voted at the last gubernatorial election to qualify for the ballot. For the 2010 election, that was 153,365.

Constitutional amendments require the signatures of 15 percent of the same pool, or 230,047.

http://www.yumasun.com/news/signatures-66782-ballot-bahr.html

[Joanne98]

1. Why do they hate our freedoms?

[Drale]

2. Because personal freedoms are inconvenient

to both power and profits.

[bluestateguy]

3. I don't have very much respect for paid petition gatherers

They are generally morons and people who don't care about the cause. They just want to get paid and get out. Paid signature gatherers are also more prone to submitted fake or forged signatures to meet their quota.

Much like the people who worked for ACT back in the 2004 campaign. The Bush campaign used volunteers and they did a far better job because their heart was in it.

[former9thward]

5. This is an attempt to strangle the initiative process.

Yes the people don't care about the cause though I won't slander them by calling them "morons". So What? Their job is to get the proposal on the ballot. It is the job of the organizers to promote the cause and get people to vote for it. Notice that this guy does not propose making paid petitioners illegal for legislators to get on the ballot -- just proposals from the people.

[msongs]

4. CA tried to eliminate paid prostitution ooops signature gatherers but was voided by courts :=( nt