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People are mislead into signing petition to change redistricting process, Sec. of State says

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PHOENIX — Some people circulating petitions to change the redistricting process are misleading people into believing they are signing papers to lower gasoline prices, Secretary of State Jan Brewer said Monday.

"We have received maybe four or five people calling, claiming they were misled by the petition circulators," Brewer said, noting even one of her sons told her he was tricked into signing one of the petitions.

Brewer said she advised Ken Clark of the incidents and wants him, as organizer of the campaign, to put a stop to it.

Clark said Monday nothing illegal is being done.

He said two employees of a petition-circulating company used the ruse of asking people if they were interested in halting skyrocketing gasoline prices to get them to stop and talk. But Clark said after the would-be signers stopped, the circulators explained they had petitions to alter constitutional requirements about how congressional and legislative districts are drawn.

"It's not illegal to try to get someone's attention," Clark said. But he said both individuals, who were being paid based on the number of signatures they collected, are no longer circulating petitions for his campaign.

Brewer, however, said she has indications the problem persists.

But the secretary of state said Clark, a former Democratic state legislator, may be right on at least one count: There is nothing in the state election code that makes it illegal to try to mislead people about what they are signing.

State law does require that an actual copy of the proposed new law or constitutional provision be attached to any petitions. But Brewer said nothing forces signers to actually review the materials.

"It's important to read the full text of the petition," she said. "At least glance at it so you know what it says."

Brewer said she is asking Attorney General Terry Goddard whether circulators might be prosecuted using other non-election laws on fraud or other crimes.

Clark needs 230,047 valid signatures by July 3, 2008 to place an initiative on that year's ballot to change how districts lines are crafted.