From rmisaac@eskimo.com Tue Aug 16 04:04:58 1994 Received: from vector.casti.com (vector.casti.com [149.52.1.130]) by mail1.its.rpi.edu (8.6.4/8.6.4) with ESMTP id EAA17965 for ; Tue, 16 Aug 1994 04:04:51 -0400 Received: from eskimo.com by vector.casti.com (8.6.9/5.931230) id EAA22229; Tue, 16 Aug 1994 04:02:00 -0500 Received: by eskimo.com (5.65c/1.35) id AA15904; Tue, 16 Aug 1994 01:04:06 -0700 Date: Tue, 16 Aug 1994 01:04:02 -0700 (PDT) From: Richard Isaac Subject: BIGOT BUSTERS (WA): Meeting with Secy. of State; ACLU Statement [long] To: Queer Interest List -- Active Seattle! , GayNet , GLB News , "HANDS OFF/U.W." , QRD Submission , SCN Submission via Tom Hicks , Sappho-L via Heidi Herman Cc: Paul Rivenberg , Tom Freeman , Jessea Greenman , Terri Smith , NGLTF FTR Media Coord/Robert Bray , Tamara Turner Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Status: U Members of Bigot Busters, including legal representation, met with Secretary of State Ralph Munro on Monday, July 25, 1994. Bigot Busters emphasized to the Secy. of State that there was no need for an investigation into Init. 608's charges of Bigot Busters harassment against signature gatherers, and that any legislation which came about as a result of the controversy should not limit the activity of those opposed to certain initiatives, but rather should be aimed at expanding freedom of speech, and indeed reform in the areas of signature gathering in public places, signature reporting, and truth-in-advertising on petitions could well be made. The Secy. of State was reported by those attending to be attentive and made no judgments about the charges against Bigot busters. He indicated that his office was, in fact, not authorized to even conduct an investigation, which would of necessity be carried out by the District Attorney in any county where charges were filed (none have been). Moreover, he said that the meeting itself was not part of an investigation; indeed, it was initiated by Bigot Busters in response to the meeting held between Init. 608 and the Secy. of State on July 14, 1994. A member of the Init. 608 campaign was at the Secy. of State's office, but was not permitted to join the meeting. The following are reports on the meeting; note the difference between the mainstream and the gay press! Also at the end is a styatement from ACLU of Washington on the matter: ```````````````````````````````` Everett _Herald_, 6 August 1994, p. 3B PETITION HARASSMENT CALLED CHALLENGE by David Ammons, Associated Press Olympia -- Harassment by foes of anti-gay-rights initiatives underscores a need for laws to protect signature gatherers, but the challenge is coming up with a fix that's constitutional, Washington's chief elections officer said Friday. Secretary of State Ralph Munro said his informal probe of alleged intimidation and harassment by "Bigot Busters" leaves no doubt in his mind that foes of two anti-gay-rights initiatives violated the rights of the signature gatherers. "Absolutely, there was harassment," he said in an interview after weighing comments from both sides in the dispute. "There was definite harassment. When somebody gets spit (at), gets shoved out of the way, when you have bodily contact, it is harassment. I also think there was verbal harassment." He was referring to a number of complaints lodged with his office by backers of initiatives 608 and 610 about the conduct of groups of self-described Bigot busters. Initiative backers told Munro that loud, argumentative and verbally abusive groups of opponents would descend upon signature-gathering areas, trying to interrupt the project or persuade people not to sign. The Bigot Busters sometimes caused such a commotion that the initiative sponsors were kicked out of the mall or other signature-gathering venues, said I-608 spokeswoman Cathy Mickels of Lynden. She balmed the tactic for the failure of I-6708 to attract enough signatures to make the fall ballot. The Bigot Busters, a group not directly affiliated with the main Hands Off Washington campaign, has steadfastly denied doing anything more than educating would-be signers about the impact of the initiatives. The confrontations never became physical, spokeswoman Kathleen Conroy said in a recent interview. She did not return a request for comment Friday. Mickels was gratified with Munro's remarks, saying "the evidence must have been significant for him to have publicly said that. We're not dropping the ball on this issue. We are going to send a message to these thugs that voters are not going to accept this." Police reports will be filed by some sponsors, a federal civil rights lawsuit is being considered and other steps will be taken, she said. "We don't need a new law so much as we need strong enforcement of the one we have on the books right now, " Mickels said. "Our marketplace of ideas is called into question when you use this type of threatening tactics." Munro said the issue of protecting sponsors' rights to collect signatures has "absolutely nothing to do with gay rights. Tomorrow it might be an initiative to protect ocean beaches or child labor, or whatever... "The real point is, we want to make sure harassment doesn't become a campaign technique." Munro said he wants to work with the Legislature to toughen the anti-harassment protections, but conceded that it could be a difficult task because each side has First Amendment rights. `````````````````````````````````````````` _Olympian_ (Olympia, WA), 28 July 1994 MUNRO TRIES TO CLEAN UP INITIATIVES by Bob Partlow, the Olympian Trying to avoid "open warfare," Secretary of State Ralph Munro will propose new laws to the 1995 Legislature governing activities surrounding the gathering of initiative signatures. Munro also will propose legislation to give sponsors more time to collect signatures rather than have their measures tied up in court, and he wants to make sure legal language required on initiatives is not dwarfed by promotional language on the petitions. "The knottiest problem is protecting the rights of those signing the initiative, those gathering the signatures and those who are opposed," Munro said. Munro made his comments after meeting earlier this week with representatives of Bigot Busters. Members of that group were accused by sponsors of initiatives 608 and 610 of being spit on, verbally harassed and intimidated as sponsors tried to collect signatures. "They told me that wasn't any of their people," Munro said of his meeting with five members of the group. Bigot Busters was trying to stop people from signing the measures -- which would have prohibited the expansion of civil rights to gays and lesbians. Neither measure gathered the necessary signatures to make the ballot. Munro earlier met with sponsors of the measures. He didn't make a judgment about what had happened during signature gathering, but said some rules are necessary. "If we don't do something, we're going 6to have open warfare on the initiative process and that's going to harm the process," he said. He has not yet worked out the specifics of his proposed legislation, he said. His other two bills would: * Allow initiative sponsors to collect signatures even if the precise wording of the title of the initiative has not been determined. Court fights over titles can take valuable time sponsors need to collect signatures, he said. * Require that legal language required on initiative petitions be given more prominence compared to promotional language on the petitions. "The legal stuff is getting smaller and smaller and the promotional stuff is getting bigger and bigger," he said. ````````````````````````````````````` Seattle Gay News, 12 August 1994, page one (above the fold) SECRETARY OF STATE'S OFFICE SAYS BIGOT BUSTERS ARE OK by Tom Flint, Associate Editor Mainstream news reports on KUOW radio and in the _Seattle times_ created the false impression that Secretary of State Ralph Munro found Bigot Busters responsible for the harassment of petitioners for anti-Gay Initiatives 608/160, and that his office will seek stricter legislation to protect the signature gatherers. Munro was out of town last week, but in a telephone interview with the SGN, Assistant Secretary of State Stone Whiting said the reports were misleading and false. "We met with representatives from Bigot Busters and Initiative 608. Neither side ever offered any kind of evidence that Bigot Busters were involved in any kind of situation of harassment or interference, Whiting said. The _Times_ article quoted Ralph Munro as saying, "Absolutely, there was harassment. There was definite harassment. When somebody gets spit upon, gets shoved out of the way, when you have bodily contact, it is harassment. I also think there was verbal harassment." Whiting said that Munro's comment was not in regard to Bigot Busters, a fact that was not made clear in the news reports. "There were a couple of incidents of harassment in a couple of locations, but as far as anyone is aware, Bigot Busters had no involvement in those incidents whatsoever, "Whiting said. "The existing statutes dealt with those incidents. There are no pending criminal complaints." Whiting said that the Secretary of State's office would be involved in designing such legislation (regarding harassment), but if implemented it would not be targeted at Bigot Busters or the freedom of political debate. Whiting said that clearly, certain senators and state representatives are going to introduce legislation in an attempt to make an issue of Bigot Busters, and Ralph Munro wants to be able to influence any such legislation. "The legislation is going to be introduced by members who want to advance this [issue]..." Whiting said. "Rather than just wait and be surprised by it in January [when the Legislature reconvenes] we want to be involved in the discussion." Whiting said the Secretary of State's office sees two areas where current regulations might be clarified. Collecting signatures on state property, like the ferry terminals, is an exercise of First Amendment rights. "But when there are too many people collecting signatures, or when there is political discussion, the custodian is tempted to tell everyone to get out. There are some First Amendment problems with that," Whiting said. He also said the laws need to be clarified about access for signature gatherers to semi-public spaces like malls or privately owned grocery stores that serve as public accommodations. The ACLU is monitoring legislation that would restrict political debate in the initiative precess. Doug Hoenig, ACLU Director Education, said "It is already illegal to physically interfere with the initiative process. The laws are clear and adequate," Hoenig said. "political debate is not interference, even heated political debate." ````````````````````````` LETTER SENT BY THE ACLU TO SECY. OF STATE OF WASHINGTON: Recent press reports indicate that you may be considering proposals for additional legislation governing conduct near initiative signature gatherers. We respectfully urge you to avoid proposing any legislation that could be used to inhibit the vigorous debate and advocacy associated with controversial public policy issues. Current Washington law is more than adequate to protect initiative petition signature gatherers from harassment. In particular, RCW 29.79.490 (5) provides specific protection, stating that it is a criminal offense if one "...interferes with or attempts to interfere with the right of any voter to sign or not to sign an initiative...petition...by threats, intimidation, or any other corrupt means or practice..." Initiative campaign -- even at the early signature gathering state -- must face the same public scrutiny and challenge as any other political offering in the marketplace of ideas. The idea of legislatively creating a "no trespass" buffer zone of arbitrary size around an initiative petition signature gatherer does not meet the very high level of protection that political speech is provided under the Constitution. Hearing opposing messages on controversial, emotional issues is not always comfortable for the listener, but it is part of the give-and-take essential to our democratic process. Sincerely, Kathleen Taylor Executive Director, ACLU of Washington Foundation * Richard Isaac __*_*___ \* * / Seattle *\ * ***\**/** rmisaac \/ @eskimo.com