Union petition won’t reach ballot after videotape, officials say

By Jaime Malarkey
Examiner Staff Writer 9/5/08

BALTIMORE COUNTY – Baltimore County officials are refusing to honor a petition submitted by an employee union after an undercover investigation proved signature collectors deceived supporters, they said.

Members of the Baltimore County Federation of Public Employees, a union that represents 911 operators, nurses and correctional officers, collected more than 10,000 signatures in support of binding arbitration during labor disputes. But the issue won’t be placed on November’s ballot after a spokesman for County Executive Jim Smith videotaped signature collectors claiming the amendment also would benefit teachers.

“We certainly did not certify the signatures because they were clearly collected in a fraudulent manner,” said the spokesman, Don Mohler. “People were mislead to believe they were supporting Baltimore County teachers and this has nothing to do with teachers.”

In a two-minute video released to The Examiner, Mohler approaches two signature collectors sitting on a bench smoking cigarettes at the Towson farmers’ market July 31. They told Mohler — who did not identify himself — the petition benefits teachers.

“This has nothing to do with teachers,” Mohler counters.

“No, actually it does,” responds one of the collectors. “It’s lawyer jargon.”

The union needed 10,000 signatures to place its binding arbitration initiative — which is currently available only to the police and fire unions — on November’s ballot. Board of Elections officials said the union submitted 3,580 pages containing 28,300 signatures.

But nearly 11,000 of those signatures were rejected because they did not belong to registered voters of Baltimore County, said Katy Brown, acting director of the county’s Board of Elections.

Earlier this month, county administrators threatened to fight the petition in court if signature collectors did not stop mentioning teachers in their pitch to residents. FPE President Jim Miller did not return calls for comment.

The union hired Oregon-based Democracy Resources, a progressive signature collection firm, to complete the petition. Company President Ted Blaszak did not return a call for comment, nor did union attorney Keith Zimmerman.
jmalarkey@baltimoreexaminer.com

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