EXCLUSIVE: I-Team confronts couple paying SF homeless for fake signatures on petitions
SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- State investigators are asking for this video of the ABC7 Eyewitness News I-Team's Dan Noyes, confronting a couple in San Francisco's Tenderloin. Noyes watched as they paid the homeless to sign other people's names on petitions for ballot measures. The security of our election process is a sensitive topic right now.
This guy broke out his martial arts skills after Noyes asked about the petitions spread across the hood and dashboard of his car.
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Noyes: "I'm with ABC7. I'm looking at the petitions."
Man: "They right there. What's going on?"
Noyes: "That's all I'm doing. I'm looking at the petitions."
Man: "What you looking at them for? You illegally looking at them?"
Noyes: "It's illegal?"
Man: 'Yeah, illegally. You're violating my personal property, my privacy rights."
Noyes: "If you can see this-"
Man: "You're violating my privacy rights. Stay away from my car."
Noyes: "If you can see this-"
Man: "You violating my privacy rights."
Noyes: "If you can see this on the street-"
Man: "If you can see what on the street?"
Noyes: "I can see those petitions right there on the street."
Man: "So what? they right there. They're mine."
Noyes: "They're yours?"
Man: "Yeah. Okay."
Noyes: "Are you paying people? (takes swing) Are you paying people?"
Man: "I ain't paid nobody."
We've had difficulty identifying the gentleman and woman with a young child, but we saw them give money to homeless people who signed petitions at their car. Earlier in the day, Tenderloin café owner and neighborhood advocate J.J. Smith put on his video glasses to document what they were doing.
J.J Smith: "You get $5 for doing it?"
Man: "Um-hmm. Can you write neatly?"
J.J Smith: "Can I write neatly? Yeah."
Man: "Yes, do hers."
J.J Smith: "Do hers?"
The couple offered $5 for signing 10 petitions.
The woman explained, "It's right here. J-O-S-H-U-A."
But they instructed Smith to sign someone else's name and he refused, saying, "That's not my name, though. Oh, no. I can't do somebody else's name, I'm sorry."
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Smith told the I-Team, "And it dawned on me, that's not legal, that's not right."
Smith tells us he has seen different groups over the past few weeks offering cash for phony signatures on petitions. He sees it as taking advantage of the homeless. "The people who are given the $5 to, they're giving them $5 to go to buy them some drugs. They're preying on the homeless and getting drug addicted people."
The petitions we saw on that dashboard come from "Building a Better California," an effort that would require government audits of proposed taxes and could block the billionaires' tax.
Building a Better California is funded by Google co-founder Sergey Brin, former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, venture capitalist John Doerr and Stripe cofounder Patrick Collison, among others. Their spokesperson, Molly Weedn, said, "Our campaign has a strict, zero-tolerance policy against any form of fraudulent activity." She said they've contacted law enforcement and will take action against the petition circulator once they identify him, preventing those petitions with phony names from being submitted.
Man: "I'm saying you don't have a right to copy me. Period."
Noyes: "Are you paying people to sign those petitions?"
Man: "Do you see anybody around me?"
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The man was not happy about our questions or about having his picture taken.
Man: "Matter of fact, the I don't care. Do what you got to do."
Noyes: "No, no, no."
Man: "Don't copy me, bro."
At that point, we walked away, and the couple left in their car shortly after.
Noyes caught some of the names being signed by the homeless that day. He spoke with one employee from Google who was very surprised; he now lives in New York. And he found a lady who died in 2009, but her name still got signed on that petition.
This is the full statement from Building a Better California's spokesperson, Molly Weedn:
"Upon learning of these fraudulent signature-gathering activities by individuals, our attorneys took immediate action to alert law enforcement and the petition gathering firm we work with. Our campaign has a strict, zero-tolerance policy against any form of fraudulent activity. We demanded that our signature-gathering firm identify the petition circulator and reject any and all petitions submitted by this circulator going forward. Furthermore, we are requiring the firm to reinforce all internal protocols and will continue cooperating with our attorneys on any law enforcement investigations. We remain committed to the highest standards of integrity for our campaign."
Attorney Kurt Oneto works for the Building a Better California campaign and others. He sent this statement:
"The campaigns I represent have zero tolerance for unethical and illegal conduct in the signature-gathering space. As soon as we were made aware of these incidents, we reported the activities to elections officials and law enforcement - including the Secretary of State and the County District Attorneys and requested an immediate investigation.
We have further mandated that the petition gathering firm identify and permanently bar these individuals from the field while ensuring all associated petitions were identified, excluded from filings with election officials, and set aside for any law enforcement investigations.
Unfortunately, these activities by rogue individuals are not new in California, and in past election cycles several high-profile cases have been prosecuted.
We're hopeful that law enforcement moves quickly here and we stand ready to assist with their investigation.
It is important to note that California's election officials do have strong systems in place that would screen out fraudulent signatures, such as those shown in these videos."
Take a look at more stories by the ABC7 News I-Team.
