Petition 'prize' claim investigated

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_pg=1673&u_sid=2192807

Published Wednesday
June 21, 2006

Petition 'prize' claim investigated

BY ROBYNN TYSVER


WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER

A prize promotion allegedly used to help gather petition signatures for a casino proposal and an anti-state spending measure has sparked an Attorney General's Office investigation.

The investigation announced Tuesday revolves around use of a "Wheel of Fortune-like" device by paid petition circulators outside the College World Series on Saturday.

It is illegal to either pay or reward someone for signing a petition.

Nine statewide petition drives are under way seeking to put initiative measures before Nebraska voters on the November ballot. Those include a measure to put a lid on state spending and a measure sponsored by Boyd Gaming to allow three casinos in Nebraska.

Mike Marvin, who filed the complaint with the Attorney General's Office, said people who signed the petitions were allowed to spin the wheel and receive prizes. Marvin is executive director of the public employees union in Lincoln and is actively working against the anti-spending measure.

A spokesman for the circulators, Steve Willey of Papillion, denied that anyone was given a prize for signing a petition.

Willey said the wheel was used to get people to "pause" before they walked into Rosenblatt Stadium and consider signing a petition. They were allowed to spin the wheel regardless of whether they signed, he said.

Prizes include hats and T-shirts.

"It's just marketing. It's not compensation. It's no different than a political guy handing out balloons and, then, handing out a card saying, 'Vote for me.' Is that soliciting a vote?" asked Willey, who owns Validation Services, a company that recruits circulators and runs petition drives.

Circulators receive between $2 and $2.50 per signature, Willey said.

The anti-spending measure, which would place a limit on increases in state spending, has resulted in the creation of an opposition group called Nebraskans for the Good Life. Members include the Nebraska State Education Association, the League of Nebraska Municipalities and AARP-Nebraska.

The main financial sponsor of the anti-spending measure is an Illinois group called Americans for Limited Government.

The Nebraska group has been sending out volunteers and paid personnel to distribute fliers - often near petition circulators - urging people to read the petitions before they sign.

Marvin, who is executive director of the Nebraska Association of Public Employees, was among volunteers handing out fliers Saturday outside of Rosenblatt.

He said the paid petition circulators were using a bullhorn to urge people to sign the casino petition. He also said he believes that only people who signed the petition were allowed to spin the wheel.

The petition backers eventually took down the wheel Saturday and left, Marvin said.

Under state law, it is a Class IV felony to pay or reward someone for signing an initiative petition.

Attorney General Jon Bruning said his office had received several calls about petition circulators.

Bruning said he is concerned that petitioners would become more "aggressive" as the July 7 deadline for filing signatures draws near.

Petitioners who want to change the Nebraska Constitution must file signatures of about 115,000 registered voters by the deadline. Those petitions seeking to change state law require about 85,000 valid signatures.

"The initiative process is an important tool for Nebraskans, and we take these allegations very seriously," Bruning said.

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