TheAgitator.com
Nader Campaign Shirks Homeless
Monday, August 2nd, 2004Ron Gunzberger reports:
Ralph Nader’s attempt to secure a spot on the Pennsylvania ballot descended in a chaotic and loud scene last week. According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, “police were called as dozens of homeless people lined up to collect money they said they were owed for circulating petitions on the candidate’s behalf.” In the end, the Nader campaign hastily abandoned their Philadelphia campaign office overnight and many of the petition circulators went unpaid. Ed Seip, who told the newspaper he had turned in over 200 signatures, complained that “a lot of us were scammed.” Nader must submit at least 25,697 valid petition signatures by the close of business Monday to qualify for the state’s ballot. Nader ballot-access contractor John Slevin promised the newspaper that “all circulators would be paid.” Petition circulators were promised payments ranging from 75 cents to $1 for each valid signature, with half of the money paid immediately when petitions were turned in to the Nader office a week ago and the balance was to have been paid by check last Wednesday. Yet, when the homeless people arrived at the Nader office to get their checks Wednesday, they found Slevin and his assistant “protected by armed guards.” Slevin processed the people in line so slowly — and apparently argued with many when they complained they were being underpaid — that “many” went home at the end of the day and returned Thursday to the office hoping to be paid, only to find it locked and abandoned. Slevin told the newspaper that he would “mail checks to the addresses people had given when hired” — which seems like a rather nasty tactic as he knew from the start that these were homeless people working for Nader.
Man o’ the people, that Ralph Nader. Of course, Nader’s do-as-I-say-not-as-I-doism is nothing new.
A pox on the man that killed the Corvair.
The original report in the Philadelphia Inquirer provides details that might help make sense of the story:
“The 2-week-old effort to collect signatures using hired petition circulators also faced scrutiny last week after reporters witnessed several circulators repeatedly signing each other’s forms and telling signers that they could use whatever name they wanted.
“Slevin said circulators had been instructed to obey the law.
“But one disgruntled circulator said they had not known the rules. ‘Everyone in the mission was just passing them around from person to person,’ said Michael Reed Jr., 21, who said he had not been paid.
“Under Pennsylvania law, only registered voters may sign ballot petitions, and only once. Flawed petitions can be challenged in court, leading to a candidate’s removal from the ballot.”
And:
“Petition circulators were told they would be paid from 75 cents to $1 for each valid signature. . . . [P]eople who showed up Wednesday described a chaotic situation. Lines moved slowly as Slevin and one assistant, protected by armed guards, vetted the petitions for obviously forged signatures. Many in line were shouting and claiming they had been underpaid.”
It sounds like the petition circulators, whether because they were dishonest or poorly instructed, padded their signature lists with bogus signatures. The press reported this, and the Nader people got scared the phony signatures would be used as grounds for keeping their candidate off the ballot. So they went through the lists and crossed out the signatures they thought were obviously invalid. Since the petition-circulators were paid by the signature, this meant a reduction in the pay they expected to receive. Hence the complaints.
Anyway, that’s my guess as to what happened.
I knew someone back home with a beautifully restored red Corvair with tags that read “Nader 1″
Some Kerry-campaign-worker probably offered those people 5-bucks each to go and claim that Nader offered them money to help his campaign but ditched them. It’s a set-up, a left-wing conspiracy (notice that the word conspiracy has the word piracy in it). Hey Scooby, where are you!?
… Nader’s do-as-I-say-not-as-I-doism is nothing new.
Politicians are like that…all of them.
Has anyone here ever read a speculative fiction author named Greg Bear? In 1985, he wrote a book called Eon. If you like the genre, it’s an excellent read, the hard stuff. I won’t give anything away by telling you that there is a sect of people in this work that are called Naderites. They refer to the ‘Gentle Nader’. It is a quasi-religion they are involved in. And yes, their faith is based on the ‘teachings’ and life of Ralph Nader.
Anyhow, whenever I read, hear or see anything about Nader, I think of this book and these people in it. And I laugh.
As annoying and awful as Nader is, he did pull a couple of great ones on Real Time w/ Bill Maher on Friday. First, Maher asked him about the convention, and Nader pointed out that the taxpayers get to foot a good amount of the bills for each convention, something to the tune of 13 million apiece, for this nihilistic self-love-fest.
Second, he shut Michael Moore’s trap-hole like I’ve never seen anyone shut it before. Moore was on fire for the whole show, just laying into the GOP congressman who was there, laying into Bush, etc…which is all good, but someone needs to put a check on the man, you know? I mean, I watched him debate Bill O’Really? and never miss a beat…but Nader shut him up real good, and put a look on his face like I’ve never seen. Nader came on at the end and said, “on your website there’s a petition to oppose every politician who supported the war in Iraq. Which includes Kerry, right?”. Moore said nothing, and Nader says, “I’ve never seen you so speechless”. Oh, man, I’m no Moore basher, I think he’s done great things and not-so-great things, but that, that was priceless.
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