California Voices

The answer: it's not clear.

Here's the scoop.

John Grubb of Repair California, the committee that's seeking to qualify ballot initiatives to call a constitutional convention for the state, recently explained to me his group's unconventional strategy for signature gathering.

Instead of doing a conventional signature gathering drive, with one of the big California firms and paid gatherers, Repair California is trying to use the signature gathering process to help build an organization. The effort combines social networking functions on the Internet and a volunteer signature drive. Repair California is supplementing these efforts with some paid signature gatherers.

This approach makes sense - as long as Repair California gets enough signatures to qualify its two measures (one to permit the people to call a convention, the other to call the convention). Having an organization is critical to Repair California because it has to do more than just win two initiative campaigns; it will have to build public support for a convention, and then convince voters to adopt whatever a convention produces.

"We want to have people on the ground when we're done," Grubb said.

Repair's strategy has upset some signature gatherers in California. Some firms and coordinators see the hybrid strategy - of using some volunteer gathering and some paid to fill in what  they don't get via volunteer - as cutting into their business. Others worry about a different sort of threat to initiative volume -- that a constitutional convention might result in restrictions on the initiative process.

A few signature gatherers have become angry enough to threaten to "blacklist" anyone who works on the constitutional convention petitions. In the signature gathering game, a blacklist, in effect, would prevent circulators from working on other petitions if they work for con con. A page calling for a blacklist of signature gatherers working on the convention petitions was put up - and then taken down - from the web site ballotpedia this week. (You can see the remains here). No one else would talk for the record. A veteran signature gatherer who I trust told me: "The rumor has spread that anyone working the Constitutional Convention petition may be put on a unofficial blacklist." The rumor, while persistent, remains a rumor.

California's regular network of petition circulators does not appear to be circulating the petitions right now. I checked in with several veteran petition circulators across Southern California this week, and none of them were carrying it. (The four initiatives that were actively circulating were: redistricting reform for Congressional districts, reforming term limits, protecting local transportation revenue and raising the vehicle license fee to fund parks).

Repair California is paying its own gatherers $1.25 a signature, according to this posting on Craigslist, which gives the number of Repair’s San Diego office.

There are also indications that Repair may be approaching smaller, out-of-state firms. An Arizona signature gathering firm owner told me he was recently contacted by signature gatherers working with Repair about coming to California to work the con con petition.