California Radio Ad Hinders Petition Signature Gatherers

An ad is airing on talk radio stations here in Los Angeles.

A wife tells her hubby that she'd just signed a petition for a ballot proposition.

"Oh no!" the husband laments.

He explains to his wife that identity thieves will gather signatures to steal personal information -- address, phone, and people's hand-writing samples.

"That's it!" the wife resolves. "I'll never sign another petition again."

The ad suggests that signatures gatherers in California are especially likely to be identity thieves, because California doesn't regulate signature gatherers. Anyone -- even out-of-staters -- can collect signatures.

That's the gist of the ad -- but you can listen to it for yourself.

The ad is sponsored by something called Californians Against Identity Theft. Maybe they're for real -- or maybe they're a front for some other organization that wants to scare off people from signing petitions for ballot initiatives and third party/independent candidacies?

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UPDATE: On the afternoon of August 2, John Kobylt of the John and Ken Show (Ken's on vacation) reported that the government employee unions are the people behind Californians Against Identity Theft.

The unions are worried about some upcoming ballot propositions seeking signatures (notably a ballot measure to repeal the Amazon tax, and another ballot mesaure to prevent union members from being forced to pay union dues to fund political campaigns.

Futhermore, the radio ad LIES. The information requested by signature gatherers are already on the voter registration rolls, and are available to the public for the asking.