regarding paid petition gatherers

[SageOwl]

I am volunteering for the LabelGMOs campaign and have been saddened and dismayed by some folks' reactions to paid petition gatherers. I've had an opportunity to talk to quite a few and nearly all have lost their jobs and are struggling to make a living. Don't these folks deserve our support?


This petition drive to get it on the ballot to have GMO foods labeled is too important for ALL of us. It just doesn't make sense to refuse to sign a petition because the person is being paid for it. I have personally seen people do this and heard all manner of hateful, intolerant, poor-people bashing excuses. And some of us Sonoma County folks like to tout us as being more enlightened than others?


Yes, some of the paid gatherers are a little scruffy and sometimes they are pushy, but this is common behavior when folks are feeling desperate. A smile and loving acceptance along with genuine interest in their well-being goes a long way towards helping them relax and tone it down. Many of them are spending 10-12 hours out in the rain everyday.


If you haven't already signed this petition and/or you don't know about this issue, go to www.labelGMOs.org. We still need help getting those signatures to get this on the ballot in November!

[Mudwoman]

Thanks for bringing up this issue SageOwl ~

Bottom line: We HAVE to get this petition on the ballot, so we can vote YES! to having ALL foods with GE/GMO ingredients labeled. We each have our own styles and preferences, but need to keep the long view and our ultimate goal in mind. And we shouldn't be quick to judge (talking to myself here, too) as judgement can be sent in our direction as well. And who wants that!

With appreciation,
Cynthe

I am volunteering for the LabelGMOs campaign and have been saddened and dismayed by some folks' reactions to paid petition gatherers. I've had an opportunity to talk to quite a few and nearly all have lost their jobs and are struggling to make a living. Don't these folks deserve our support?

This petition drive to get it on the ballot to have GMO foods labeled is too important for ALL of us. It just doesn't make sense to refuse to sign a petition because the person is being paid for it. I have personally seen people do this and heard all manner of hateful, intolerant, poor-people bashing excuses. And some of us Sonoma County folks like to tout us as being more enlightened than others?

Yes, some of the paid gatherers are a little scruffy and sometimes they are pushy, but this is common behavior when folks are feeling desperate. A smile and loving acceptance along with genuine interest in their well-being goes a long way towards helping them relax and tone it down. Many of them are spending 10-12 hours out in the rain everyday.

If you haven't already signed this petition and/or you don't know about this issue, go to www.labelGMOs.org. We still need help getting those signatures to get this on the ballot in November!

[Violetlynn]

Thanks for your insightful comments!

[tommy]

while your cause may be noble, the vehicle - placing initiatives on the ballot in California - is severely frayed. So many interest groups have used ballot initiates to direct government funding, that the result is a warped and unbalanced funding process.

Often there are numerous initiatives on the ballot, many with pro and con positions, at times the descriptions are misleading, at times financed by corporations, and private interest groups, to get control of public funding. Few people have or take the time, or understand the truth behind the issues, to vote in an intelligent manner.

The California Initiative process has been co-oped and now works against good government. The process needs to be eliminated, or restructured at the state level.

It is no way to run a government, to be directed by initiatives, which is the way it is now. I refuse to sign any initiatives for that reason. While I am sorry that some have lost their jobs, it is a miscarriage of justice, to use this to justify paid petition gatherers. This is merely another example of MONEY being used to direct government, no different than K Street lobbyists or Super Pac funding by the Koch brothers.

[forveterans49]

I am one of those people who haven't signed this petition or others when in front of stores. I haven't done it only because some time back there was story about Republicans pretending to be Democrats and messing up petitions..that worried me. Anyway, I do sign most of my petitions online by way of MoveOn, ColorofChange, ACLU, etc. etc. I have never wanted to make any volunteer feel strange and never once, thought about them getting paid. Thanks for bringing this to our attention.

[Butterfly]

The Millionaires Tax, one of the current successful California initiative petitions, polls above 60% of the California electorate support.

Most people would agree, "Occupy" informed, educated and shifted political discourse across the country; The Millionaires Tax initiative did not come out of back rooms; its success is an offspring of the Occupy outcry, 99% vs. 1%.

Gov. Jerry Brown had his own initiative petition circulating, to challenge The Millionaires Tax initiative petition. He entered into negotiations and a resulting compromise with the California Federation of Teachers, et. al. for a compromise initiative petition, now circulating for the November ballot.

A current initiative petition circulating is for GMO labeling on our food products; nearly all done by volunteer signature gatherers. I can guarantee you, that petition is not being promoted by corporate agriculture, political lobbyists in Sacramento, or special interest groups (other than those with consumers' interest at heart).

Our electorate is currently less than 50% of those eligible to vote. I know a paid signature gatherer who has registered thousands of new Green Party members in Sonoma County over the years while doing paid signature gathering. And I'm not a Green Party member.

Perhaps registering people to vote is something one could do to engage people in the political process. I dare say, these days, it may be all there's left that could be called good politics. Politics takes time & money; the trouble today is we, 99% have the lesser of money, so we probably need to make up for our deficit by investing our time to "right the ship of state."

while your cause may be noble, the vehicle - placing initiatives on the ballot in California - is severely frayed. So many interest groups have used ballot initiates to direct government funding, that the result is a warped and unbalanced funding process.

Often there are numerous initiatives on the ballot, many with pro and con positions, at times the descriptions are misleading, at times financed by corporations, and private interest groups, to get control of public funding. Few people have or take the time, or understand the truth behind the issues, to vote in an intelligent manner.

The California Initiative process has been co-oped and now works against good government. The process needs to be eliminated, or restructured at the state level.

It is no way to run a government, to be directed by initiatives, which is the way it is now. I refuse to sign any initiatives for that reason. While I am sorry that some have lost their jobs, it is a miscarriage of justice, to use this to justify paid petition gatherers. This is merely another example of MONEY being used to direct government, no different than K Street lobbyists or Super Pac funding by the Koch brothers.

[Mudwoman]

Tommy,

I'm one of our local Sonoma county LabelGMOs volunteer signature gatherers. It's been a VERY interesting experience talking with Sonoma county's citizens. It feels quite 'democratic,' as a grassroots originated process where I've personally met and worked beside the woman who started it as well as teaming up with our local county coordinators.

Here's what I've learned in the past 6 weeks:

~ A surprising number of eligible adults are not registered to vote, including several of personal acquaintances who prefer living "under the radar."

~ Some folks don't sign any petitions ever, whether they believe in the issue or not.

~ A few don't sign because causes they believe in always get voted down...and it gets frustrating.

~ Others think we're wasting our time. That labeling ge/gmo foods will be defeated in court, even if we get it passed on the CA ballot.

~ The majority of folks are not interested in having foods labeled....even though stats indicate 9 out of 10 US citizens want to know what's in their food. No wonder BIG biotech firms and agri-biz giants are running rough shod all over us. Experimenting with our health without our knowledge or permission.

~ Alarmingly many folks don't know the difference between genetically-engineered or genetically modified foods and natural or planned plant hybridizing!

~ Unfortunately, many 20-to-30-something gardeners who grow their own food, believe ge/gmo crops (and seeds) are not a threat to their health and well-being.

~ Folks who DO support labeling foods ge/gmo are openly appreciative of our efforts. (THANKS!!) They're interesting folks and great to talk to.

================================
There are aspects of the initiative process that I'm personally somewhat uncomfortable with. Though I agree with SageOwl's comments about paid petitioners needing jobs...

~ I'm not really okay with the idea of some folks being 'professional' signature gatherers working for companies who hire and organize them. The primary reason for my objection is the funds they're being paid with could be better used to re-imburse the out-of-pocket expenses of volunteer coordinators on the local level....for which ZERO funds have been allotted. OR used to educate the voting public on the importance of this issue for all of us.

~ Also, if we accidentally obtain a duplicate signature that county may be penalized up to 1000 legitimate signatures based on some sort of pre-determined algorithm. I find this shocking!! And totally inappropriate for volunteer gathered signatures. After all we still expect our signatures (and votes) to be accounted for accurately. Perhaps we're too naive...

Anyway, I'm pleased to be involved in this importance grassroots consumer movement. And if any of you have not yet signed the LabelGMOs petition and are willing to, please do so ASAP since the April 22nd deadline is approaching rapidly.

Thanks!
Cynthe

while your cause may be noble, the vehicle - placing initiatives on the ballot in California - is severely frayed. So many interest groups have used ballot initiates to direct government funding, that the result is a warped and unbalanced funding process.

Often there are numerous initiatives on the ballot, many with pro and con positions, at times the descriptions are misleading, at times financed by corporations, and private interest groups, to get control of public funding. Few people have or take the time, or understand the truth behind the issues, to vote in an intelligent manner.

The California Initiative process has been co-oped and now works against good government. The process needs to be eliminated, or restructured at the state level.

It is no way to run a government, to be directed by initiatives, which is the way it is now. I refuse to sign any initiatives for that reason. While I am sorry that some have lost their jobs, it is a miscarriage of justice, to use this to justify paid petition gatherers. This is merely another example of MONEY being used to direct government, no different than K Street lobbyists or Super Pac funding by the Koch brothers.

[Mudwoman]

Apologies for a few typos....must be too late!

~ Cynthe

I'm one of our local Sonoma county LabelGMOs volunteer signature gatherers...etc.