I ask to sign a petition, and this petition circulator not only refuses to let me sign but threatens to call the cops. Here’s my encounter with an apparently paid petition circulator at 6th and Main in Rapid City, Saturday, September 26, 2015:
This encounter took place about twenty minutes before my other Saturday run-in with a circulator who ran from my camera. I don’t know which petition-mercenary firm hires these guys, but they aren’t training them very well.
My sister Rosemarie ran into this bunch down on the Oglala Reservation yesterday.
They would not identify themselves by name and only said they worked for something called ENCORE.
Naturally she called me to make sure if they were the good or bad circulators, she didn’t sign.
I’ve encountered them at Walmart and the downtown Family Thrift Center and you’re right, they can run faster than this old guy.
That was certainly entertaining. If they are up to no good, I can see them high-tailing it if a potential signer asks more questions than they like, but you didn’t ask him anything to begin with, except what his petitions are for. Now that’s paranoia. It’s a good thing if the fake petitioners are feeling paranoid.
Wow. If a fellow is walking around carrying papers Mr. H will accost them and insist on writing on them. Seems to me that gentleman was minding his own business and you might have been harassing him a bit. Does it occur to you that the loan sharks now have you helping them to turn everybody off on signing any petition?
Thank you for standing up to the establishment.
Encore? Roger, that would be Encore Political Services, run by Hiram Asmuth from Portland, Oregon. I posted his Facebook recruiting notice on September 18.
Why did they run from you, Roger?
And that’s the funny thing, Deb: what you see on the video is our entire interaction, from my very first question. Clearly these people want no press, no attention. They want to operate under the radar, and that should set everyone’s alarm bells off, including the Attorney General’s.
This just makes me sick. I predict that lawmakers respond to this by attempting to restrict our initiative and referendum rights, and I’m certain they will use the stuff we’ve seen this year as ammunition. It’s terrible.
Cory,
I just started plying them with questions about who they were, who they worked for, etc.
Thanks for the Encore link, I forgot about that, that is about the only information my sister could get out of them.
Yes C.H ACCORDING TO Grud your bad very bad.
South Dakota Progressive Movement doesn’t seem to be in a steep decline, Mr. Powers. Are you sure you’ve got your finger on the “pulse of the people” as you claim? I can sense a surge. That old bacon belly, Gruff-Nick is as anxious as Ted Cruz’s father.
Roger, when mere questions trigger their secrecy, when you’re not even holding a camera, that should alarm everyone.
Neal, I share your concern that the Legislature will try to burden our I&R right with more hurdles. Much as I would like to find a magic legislative solution that would put these shady circulators out of business, I’m not sure we can trust our I&R-hating GOP majority to craft such legislation. Should we try to compose a good reform bill ourselves, or should we simply take the conservative position that we don’t need a legislative fix and rely instead on citizen activism like my videos and Roger’s questions?
Please be careful, Cory. We don’t want to hear about you getting hurt.
He looks like one of the two seeking signers at Safeway. Not sure as it was the other guy who approached me. Those were the redistricting and ( I forget the other ) petitions. I looked the petitions over, front and back, before signing.
Considering how people edit their videos, such as the current anti-Planned Parenthood video, one can understand any hesitation to be on someone’s camera phone before knowing who they are and what is their agenda.
Just because someone is asking for our signatures doesn’t mean they owe us. Surely, Cory, you have had someone who doesn’t agree with your petition want to debate it on the spot as you hope to find more signers from the people walking by. At what point should you be able to order them to decease, desist, and vacate your personal space? People can be scary, even threatening as they express their firmly held political beliefs. They might even chase you up and down the street with a camera questioning your motives.
Your caution is well-received, Jenny.
Barry, petitioners owe us quite a bit. They owe us honest answers, politeness, and the opportunity to sign. Notice that I didn’t seek to debate the guy. I offered to sign, repeatedly. The scenario I document above does not match the hypothetical you offer in response.
I looked at the other video and those were the two men at Safeway with the redistricting petitions. The guy handed it to me, I read the page I would be signing front and back, saw what it was and signed it.
Is the redistricting petition bad? Is there more than one redistricting petition?
Which two, the guys behind the dude in the purple shirt? Was the redistricting petition the only petition they were carrying?
The redistricting petition is solid, making the election map more fair by taking partisan politics out of the process. However, bad petitioners can cast doubt on good petitions. I would still ask who the circulators are, for whom they are working, and how we can get hold of them later so that we can make sure they actually submit the sheet with my signature to the Secretary of State.
Once he told you to back off, you wer harassing him.
The Blindman
Disorderly Conduct SDCL § 22-18-35 South Dakota’s disorderly conduct law prohibits a person from intentionally causing a public inconvenience, annoyance or alarm to another person or making unreasonable noise. If a harasser says anything that makes you feel annoyed or alarmed (such as repeatedly asking for your name or phone number after you’ve said no, or asking where you live), or if the harasser escalates and shouts and otherwise makes loud noises, you can report him/her. Penalty: Disorderly conduct is a Class 2 misdemeanor, punishable by 30 days in the county jail or a $500 fine, or both, but it can rise to a more severe penalty if the harasser is a repeat offender.
The Blindman
Bill D. I claim journalistic defense. I was attempting to report on a matter of public concern. This individual was engaged in electioneering activity in a public place. His expectation of privacy is nil. Public concern outweighs.
Besides, he’ll have to come forward by name to file charges, and he’ll have to come to South Dakota court to testify.
Any petitioner knows that reporters CAN’T sign petitions. It’s a waste of time for a petitioner to talk to anyone who can’t sign a petition. Non voter, journalist, anyone in a City or State uniform, all pointless conversations.
They also know that for each petition they carry, they are most likely not authorized to talk to media, period. They may also recognize that reporters tend to edit videos, which is exactly why petitioners aren’t authorized to speak with press.
Every campaign has a paid media lead or campaign manager.
Would you risk your job and livelihood to talk with a reporter?
As a side note, it’s obvious in the first video(with the guy running away) that it was edited. Why don’t you publish the full video?
Wrong, wrong, and wrong, Ned. There is no law making a reporter’s signature invalid. I have signed many petitions since I began blogging in 2005, and every one of those signatures has the full force of law. Reporters may choose not to sign. They may labor under contractual agreements with their employers saying they can’t sign petitions, but there is no law justifying your flimsy excuse for these shady petitioners.
If these guys can’t talk with the press to help inform the public, they shouldn’t be circulating petitions.
The first video was not edited. It is everything I got, from the moment I hit the Record button to the moment I stopped. I published the entire video. Your use of the word “obvious” lays bare your effort to make a bald assertion sound like truth. You’re full of crap, Ned.
How many people reading this article are authorized by their employer to speak to press?
If you take your camera to the smoke shelter at a hospital, how many employees would talk with you on film if you asked questions about their work?
Get real. You’re press. You have the ability to edit anything that is said.
How does it not make sense that someone carrying an issue you may disagree with wouldn’t want to speak with you? Especially knowing you’re wasting their time. You get paid either way.
Mr. H is not press, he’s a blogger. If it was KEVN running around chasing these people in the streets they’d be put in jail. That’s why you don’t see journalists running around waving cell phones and harassing people in the streets.
Ned, you’re back, you dissembler, you!
The employer mandate does not apply here. I’m a citizen, speaking to an individual in a public place. I’m not invading any private property, just as no petitioner should. I’m seeking an opportunity to sign a petition, which the individuals on camera were plainly carrying. I did not edit either video. You are making stuff up, Ned.
And even if these paid employees (ah, so you concede they are not real petitioners with real concerns about South Dakota’s well-being, just mercenaries trying to collect our personal information to make a buck—thank you) are under contractual obligations not to answer questions from inquiring citizens, wouldn’t they make their business look a lot less bad if they could hand over a card explaining the situation and directing inquiries to their company’s media department?
And what company instructs its employees to whip out their cameras, get hostile, and lie about the people asking them questions about the work they are doing on a public street corner? (Really, I want to know, Ned: who is this employer, and how do I get a comment from their public relations department?)
By the way, who says I was getting paid that night, Ned?
Now check your e-mail, Ned.
Grudz, you’re making stuff up, too. Don’t you remember Angela Kennecke’s amazing chase? https://dakotafreepress.com/2015/09/16/kennecke-busts-illegal-petition-circulators/