Are the circulators paid?
Some are paid. Others are volunteers. This is a legitimate cottage industry in the U.S. and is perfectly legal in ballot intitiative states. Our opponents use the word “paid” as if it’s the same as “bribed.” When did it become suspicious or evil to create jobs? Our opponents are often also paid representatives; why don’t they mention that?
For some people, petition circulation is a regular job, like any other job. They get to work for themselves, at their own paces, setting their own hours. There’s nothing evil about this, any more than it’s evil to be a cashier, work construction, or do nails. It’s a particularly good job for college students because most of the work is in the spring and early summer, and they can work around their class schedule.
As a job, petition circulation attracts people who want a flexible job that reacts to their personal energy level—they can make as much or as little as they want, depending on how much time and trouble they wish to put into their work. There are always petitions to be circulated, on all types of subjects, not just the Civil Rights Initiatives. This is a common occupation or avocation in America.
Others take the job to help the movement we believe in. For instance, I worked on the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative campaign every day for months, without being paid a dime. I was acting as a citizen, defending my three children’s rights. I have a white boy, a white girl, and a Mayan boy adopted from Guatemala. I’m fighting for my children’s rights to be equal before the eyes of their own government (see Diane’s Columns: Two Colors, One Home). I worked on the Michigan campaign for almost two years without being paid.
When the Civil Rights Initiative movements came to other states, I accepted the paid job of petition circulator in Missouri and Nebraska. (see “Are we ‘outsiders’?) I left paying work, left my family, and pounded the pavement with a not-particularly-easy job of gathering signatures because I am passionate that Americans must and shall be equal. The big bucks I earned were mostly eaten up in incidental expenses and work lost at home. Believe me, nobody’s getting rich collecting signatures.
Yet our opponents, who are also paid (ask Shanta Driver how much she makes) say, “They’re PAID, you know!” as if there’s something inherently sneaky or corrupt about jobs created by the Civil Rights Initiatives.
Diane Carey