Learn and Earn Campaign Dishonestly Circulating Petitions
Since gambling itself has little support in our community, the "Learn and Earn" campaign is omitting the truth from those who they solicit for signatures. I witnessed one such petitioner tell a college student that he was collecting signatures to put more scholarships on the ballot for November (which is partially true), but he failed to tell the signer that legalizing gambling was the means to accomplish this goal.
Here is a letter I wrote to Pat Wolfe of the Secretary of State:
Here is a letter I wrote to Pat Wolfe of the Secretary of State:
Ms. Wolfe,
Friday afternoon leaving the campus of the University of Cincinnati I witnessed a petition circulator who was convincing people to sign petitions to get "more scholarships on the ballot in November."
When I heard this and witnessed a student on the verge of signing, the student of course was thinking that scholarships are indeed a good thing, I asked the petitioner if his ballot initiative had anything to do with gambling.
It was at this point he admitted the fact that his petitions were designed to allow the use of slot machines in the state of Ohio. Of course the young lady who was about to help put gambling on the ballot was furious that she had almost been tricked into attaching her name to a controversial issue she didn't even support.
I then asked him if he was with the "Learn and Earn" campaign and he said that he was. Learn and Earn is using paid staff to circulate petitions.
I do recognize that "ultimate responsibility" in signing a petition lies with those who are signing, but should we not expect a certain degree of honesty and ethical conduct from those hired to help put something on our ballot? While it may be true that the amendment may create scholarships, as the circulator is telling everyone, it's definitely not the entire, or even the largest part, of the story. The signature gathering process is already as difficult and slow as possible; requiring every signer to read every single word on every single petition because of paid petitioners being dishonest would be quite harmful to movements that require petitions.
The ultimate concern is that dishonest petitioners will undoubtedly make the democratic process more difficult for people who are collecting signatures in an honest fashion. The more immediate concern is that people are being tricked into helping a cause with which they do not agree.
Sincerely,
Andrew Warner
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