News-Leader
Reform would curb fraud, official says.
Chad Livengood
December 27, 2008
When an interest group wants to gather signatures in Missouri to put a proposed change in the Constitution before voters, they commonly hire people to help.
And those petition circulators typically get paid per signature, heightening the possibility of fraudulent names being signed to the forms.
State Rep. Mike Parson, R-Bolivar, wants to put an end to the practice of people being paid for every signature they gather.
"What's happening is a company or a special-interest group can come in from out of the state, basically unload the signature gathers (from a bus), do a marketing campaign and change the Constitution of the State of Missouri," he said.
Parson said the system is being abused by people who are more interested in making money than making legitimate improvements to the Constitution.
"Let's face it, do they really care what the issue is they're doing? Their job is to gather signatures," said Parson, a former Polk County sheriff. "If we're going to change the Constitution of the state of Missouri, let's have Missourians who are going to do it."
Full Story: http://www.news-leader.com/article/20081227/NEWS01/812270341/1001/RSS01
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