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This is a tough year for anyone trying to get an initiative on the November ballot. In past elections, any campaign with enough money could buy all the signatures it needed from professional circulators who, working as independent contractors, carried several different petitions. But a recent crackdown by the Oregon Employment Division has changed everything. Two rulings against companies that ran campaigns in 1996 make it clear that from now on, it will be hard to convince OED that circulators are free-lancers, not employees ("Out of Circulation," WW, Dec. 10, 1997). People who continue to pay circulators as contractors may face huge financial penalties if one of their petitioners files an unemployment claim once the political season ends. The rulings could mean the end of the free-wheeling professional circulators in future elections and this year have created chaos in what has become a multimillion-dollar industry. In response, petitioners have adopted five major strategies: 1. The Full Bounty: Helen Hill is willing to gamble. The chief petitioner of the measure that would open birth certificates to adopted adults, Hill attended a recent training session at the State Elections Division on the employee vs. independent contractor issue. She left more confused than ever. "It's an absolute circus right now," Hill says. "I think it's terrible that the state did this--changing the rules this late," she adds, referring to the July deadline to turn in signatures. She says she has no time to wait and see where the dust will settle on unresolved issues. Hill says she is paying circulators 50 cents per signature, taking measures to meet state criteria as she understands it, and hoping the OED does not audit her. 2. Hide the Petitioner: The king of petition circulating, Bill Sizemore, steadfastly maintains that the OED rulings are wrong and that he has no intention of paying circulators as employees. "There are two ways to stop the initiative process," says the president of Oregon Taxpayers United. "One is to make circulators be employees. The other is to stop them from circulating at malls and shopping centers." But for all the bravado, Sizemore has insulated OTU from liability by keeping himself removed from the process. He started a circulating company called I&R Petitions, which in turn subcontracts with a recently created company called Klein Campaigns, run by 27-year-old Saul Klein. If a circulator files an unemployment claim, it will be Klein, not Sizemore, who will be stuck with the bill. But Sizemore says if the OED audits Klein Campaigns, he will fight any sanctions as an attack on free speech. These days, after collecting enough signatures to qualify Sizemore's union dues initiative, Klein is circulating two petitions, includina crime initiative for Kevin Mannix. 3. Volunteer Spirit: Sure it's old-fashioned and quaint, and it hasn't been successful since 1994, but if you have an issue that motivates folks to walk the streets for free, it's still legal. This year at least two campaigns are counting on the power of the people to get their measures to the ballot. Both the Oregon Citizens Alliance (whose initiative would limit abortion and gay rights) and Secretary of State Phil Keisling (who wants to expand vote-by-mail) say they won't be paying circulators. 4. Earn Your Paycheck: Oregonians for Labor-Intensive Forest Economics came up with a clever way to hire petitioners without going broke. Workers for an initiative that would prohibit clear-cutting on federal forest lands raise their own salary by canvassing for contributions door-to-door while asking for signatures. Chief sponsor Gary Kutcher says his group decided to try this after the OED rulings. "When we first caught wind of what was going on, we thought it could be a problem," he says. If the workers cannot meet the minimum wage with their fund raising, Kutcher says, they will be asked to do the work as volunteers. 5. Toeing the Line: The Oregon Public Employees Union has two measures tied up in court; when they hit the street, the union says, they'll mostly be carried by volunteers. But the group expects it will also need to use paid petitioners and plans to hire them as employees. Coordinator Tim Nesbitt says that despite protests by other petitioners, OPEU thinks it can afford to go the employee route. "We've determined that if you hire people, pay appropriate wages and workers comp, have assigned hours and assigned places, it will cost you about a dollar per signature," says Nesbitt. That's fine for now, but in 1996, competition forced payments up to $2 per signature and higher, which would translate to much more than minimum wage. Nesbitt could have a hard time keeping circulators unless they are deeply committed to OPEU's cause. |
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