ACLU Taught Blockers To Violate Voter Rights of Mass. Citizens

MN Staff
November 2002 Print Edition

Two blockers (the woman on the left and the blonde man) stand beside a man as he tries to sign the Protection of Marriage petition outside the K-Mart at Holyoke. (The man on the right is the petition gatherer.)		As he begins to sign, the woman continues her harangue.
The blonde blocker appears to be attempting to bump the clipboard of another man who is trying to sign the petition. If this caused a mark on the sheet, it would disqualify the entire sheet of names.		The blonde woman blocker attempts to intimidate a petitioin gahterer by writing down his license plate. Because cars of petition gatherers have been vandalized, it was necessary for the gatherer to spend time following this woman.

It was the ACLU who trained hundreds of blockers to harass the voters as they attempted to sign the petition last fall, according to the Bay Windows editorial of August 22.

This was an illegal violation of voting rights under the U.S. Constitution. According to the U.S. Supreme Court, no campaigning can be done anywhere near where people are exercising their voting rights. But the ACLU put blockers in-your-face as voters were in the act of signing.

This illegal confrontation caused everyone to worry about the safety of the petition gatherers, says Pawlick, and forced MCM to go to the expense of hiring paid gatherers. The Bay Windows editorial bragged, "As a result, the petitioners received thousands fewer signatures than they otherwise would have."

The right to solicit signatures in public places is clear and is protected by both the U.S. and Massachusetts Constitutions, according to a Memorandum from the Secretary of State dated August 30, 2001.

The blockers operated mostly at shopping centers and malls.

he operation was done in conjunction with a local group called the Campaign for Equality, of which the ACLU is a member.
The ACLU used the euphemism, "truth squads," to describe the illegal activities. The purpose, they said, was to "convince" voters not to sign the petition.

Reports from petitioners in the field, said the "truth squads" were quite aggressive, obnoxious and dangerous.

A petitioner who asked that his name be withheld reported that the "truth squads" descended on signing tables at various malls and stores and harassed petitioners and blocked the public as they approached the tables.

"They try to head the public off at the pass. They will get between the public and us before we can talk to them. They are not only intimidating the public, but now we are being intimidated. Any time people enter your personal space, put their face close to your face, or spit at you or try to hit you with a petition board, we feel a certain amount of concern for the safety of those out there gathering signatures.

"Generally there are three to seven people in a 'truth squad,' male and female. They come in shifts. They never identify themselves and always work in teams. If we are there eight hours, they are there with us the whole eight hours.

"One of my friends two days ago was in Greenfield gathering signatures. A member of a 'truth squad' went up to him and spit in his face and screamed so loud that the manager came out to see what was happening.

"I personally have been grabbed by one of the blockers and moved out of the way so that they could talk to someone. I had to tell the guy, 'Look, that's assault and battery. I realize this is a heated debate, but let's not physically touch each other.'

"When using a quiet voice doesn't work, they just start to scream and yell that we are the 'religious right' and that we have targeted the gay community, that we don't care about people, that we are lying about the petition so people will vote for it. One of their main arguments is that single women and children will lose their health care benefits.

"Three of them went up to me and a friend when we were gathering signatures in Springfield. They were handing out flyers. They were crowding us. They would surround us and tell people not to sign the petition, that it was going to take health care benefits from their children, things like that. It's made it extremely difficult to gather signatures because when you bring up children, people become confused.

"If you have a camera, they will stay a foot or two away, but if you don't, they will surround you on three sides and block you from talking to people. People coming out of the store don't know what we are doing, so it just creates a massive amount of confusion."

A fund-raising email from the Campaign for Equality said, "If we can ramp this effort up statewide, we have an excellent chance at slowing down the signature drive enough to stop the ballot campaign before it starts."

The e-mail boasts that efforts to block signatures were "phenomenally successful." It said that whenever a "truth squad" was near a petitioner, signature totals drop by as much as 80%.

The e-mail mentioned that "truth squads" were organized to work four-hour shifts. "All you need to do is hand out leaflets and talk to passers-by. Everyone who has worked in a Truth Squad says it's an empowering and 'downright fun' experience."

Training sessions for the blockers were held at the Hotel and Restaurant Workers Union Hall, 58 Berkley St. in the South End of Boston.