Brown Sues to Remove Farm Ballot Measure
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Assembly Committee Hearings ~. CRIMINAL INDICTMENTS PROMISED BY DISTRICT ATTORNEY LOS ANGELES, California -- Taking kers:" "It is very embarrassing to have, testimony from a number of prominent to admit this," said Verner, "especially state and county officials, includlng Cali with my very strong feelings on the sub fornia Secretary of State Edmund G. Brown, ject." Jr. and Los Angeles District 'Attorney Brown had several other witnesses avail joseph P. Busch, an Assembly Committee abe in the audience, and read from numer has uncovered widespread fraud in the ous letters and affidavits Citing decep certification of Proposition 22 for the tion similar to that experienced by the November 7 ballot. The Farm Bureau and other agribusiness interests have admitted spending over $240,{)00 in placing the measure on the ballot, and expect to spend even more in advertising during the closing weeks of the campaign, Illegal use of minors to secure signa tures, use of "dodger" cards and gross misrepresentation of fact were among the tactics exposed during hearings of the, Assembly Committee on Elections and Re apportionment in Los Angeles October 12. The most dramatic testimony during tfiectay-came -from Secretary of S~ate Edmund Brown, who earlier made an un successful attempt to have Proposition 22 removed from the ballot because of Secretary of State Edmund ,G. Brown, Jr. reads' several affidavits to the As the fraud he had uncovered. sembly Committee demonstrating that Proposition 22 !lad been fraudulently Brown showed the Committee NBC and qualified for the November 7 ballot. CBS film clips of Robert Walters of Amer ican Advertising and Sales, one of several public, relations firms paid to gain cer 1Lo~ .ang'tltlt ~intt~ Fri., Sept. 15, 1972 tification for Proposition 22, demonstrating how he had instructed signature-gatherers to use a printed "dodger card" to cover up the official description of the Proposi tion on its petitions. .Brown Sues to Remove • Brown also had a number of people in the audience come forward to tell the Committee how they had been deceived into either signing the petitions for the District Attorney joseph Busch: "If you measure or gathering signatures for it. have enough money, you can get anything on the ballot." Farm Ballot Measure Hams and Rabbi Verne!. ':alls Drive for Signatures Worst Case of ht his testimony Los Angeles Courity District Attorney joseph P. Busch singled Election Fraud to Be Uncovered in State out.the big- money interests behind Prop BY WILLIAM ENDICOTT osition 22 severely, saying "If you have Times Staff Writer enough money, you can get anything on the ballot," SACRA~1ENTO - Secretary of signers, ,. Busch recommended the elimination of State Edmund G, Brown Jr. filed Brown called it the "worst case paid signature gatherers, saying that the suit. Thursday in Sacramento Supe- , of election fraud to ever be uncov rate of invalid and fraudulent signatures ered in California," from paid gatherers was much higher than riot' Court to remove a controversial from unpaid. farm labor in it i a.t i ve from the Brov..-n's action stemmed from in Fifteen year old john Ham and his Busch said that the rate of invalid sig Xovember general election ballot. vestigations by- his office and dis mother, Mrs. Grace Ham, tell the Com natures on Proposition 22 was among the trict attorneys in 10 counties. highest at 37%, and that many of those He sa.id more than 63.036 signa mittee how they were tricked into gather said he had received approxi ~g invalid signatures were forgeries or other tures on petitions to qua.lify 1he He signatures for Proposition 22. mately 3.000 letters and signed wise fraudulent. Such fraud is a crime mea"ure for the ballot ''1I'ere oh under California law, and Busch said that statem~nts from persons who said Fifteen-year-old john Ham of Norwalk _he expected his investigations to result tained as a result of fraudu lent and they signed petitions under false testified under oath that he had been paid in criminal indictments. misleading representation" made to pretenses, eighteen cents a name to gather Signatures for the proposition by a public relations Even Committee members gave examples firm. His mother, Mrs. Grace Ham, then of the fraudulent handling of Proposition 22. told the Committee that she had been Committee chairman and Assembleyman required to come to the firm's office Henry A. Waxman (D. - Los Angeles) to sign the petition as the official sig ,told of being asked to sign a petition Who's Behind the Fraud? on the advice that it would "lower food nature gatherer in order for john to be The Fair Labor Practices Committee , California Agricultural Conf $63,000 paid. prices" and "help farm workers." Only by persistent questioning was he able to a front group for agribusiness interests in Dried Fruit Assn. $30,000 Both acts--the gathering of signatures read the true Proposition statement under the state of California spent more. than Allied Grape Growers $23,741 $240,000 to qualify Proposition 22 for for an initiative by a minor, and the the dodger card, whereupon he refused to Am. Dehydrated Onion & Garlic $10,000 certifying of those signatures by some Sign. the ballot on November 7 and intends Southern Pacific Tran, $10.000 one other than the gatherer--are illegal Assembleyman Leon Ralph of Watts was to spend over $600,000 more to get it Calcot Limited $10,000 under California law and sUbject to cri told how Chicanos had been paid to circu past the voters. This committee hired the California Farm Bureau $10,000 public relations firms Alan Blanchard & minal penalties. john and Mrs. Ham told late· the petition in his district, noting Diamond Walnut Growers, Inc. $10,000 Associates and American Advertising and the Committee they were unaware of this that a Black person would automatically Associated Dairymen $5,000 illegality at the time john was employed Sales to collect the signatures needed to Tri Valley Growers $5,000 assume that a petition circulated by a qualify the initiative. by the firm. and that they had voluntarily Chicano would be favorable to farm workers. California Canners & Growers $5,000 come forward to give their testimony when And Speaker of the California Assembly Where did the Fair Labor Practices Sonoma-Marin Dairymen $5,000 they had learned of it. Bob Moretti, also a member of the Com Committee get the money to hire these Hunt Wesson Foods, Inc. $3,000 Brown also calleaon Rabbi David Verner mittee, noted that those initiatives with firms? The follOWing is a partial list Seaboard Lemon Assn. $3,373 of UCLA, who told the Committee he had heavy promotion from public relations firms of those who made the largestcontributions Villa Park Orchards Assn. $2,894 been persuaded to sign the petition after have traditionally involved the most de to finance the 'Fair Labor Practices Com Oxnard Santa Clara Lemon Assn. $2,778 being told that it was "to help farm wor- ception and fraud. mittee so far: Calavo Growers $2,594 , -, Vol. XXXII-No. 43 Los Angeles, C.liforni. October 4, 1972 SACRAMENTO REPORT United Auto Workers Region 6 Director Jerry Whipple is Prop. 22...Anti Mot It Clln "Un·Do" among the leading unionists By Vern Cannon trate the farm worker's efforts to days at the emploYer's request, Legislative Representative secure any of the organizing col-· thus. thor~ughly eliminating eco in California urging a lective bargaining rights enjoyed nomic action. "NO" vote on Proposition 22. One of these issues, Proposition by other workers. It would be ille 22, the so-called Agricultural La gal for any citizen to notify the lIn convention, delegates to the bor Relations Act, is by far the public of the boycott of a product. California Teamsters Legislative most controversial and worst la A worker would not be able to Council recommended a, "Vote bor legislation ever proposed in vote in more than one election in' No" position. Every effort will be, California. year's time; he would have to be made to advise Teamster mem What does it do? Better yet, employed for 100 days to be eli bers of this position and the . what does it un-do. Should it gar gible to vite. No more temporary contents of this bad proposition. workers than permanent workers It'll be a battle against hundreds AIL.I:II,.. ner a majority of the vote, Propo could participate in an election. of thousands of agricultural dol- sition 22 would completely frus- Strikes could be stopped for sixty lars. .. AFL-CIO NEWS. WASHINGTON. D. C.•, AUGUST 26. 1972 Calfornia Labor Battles New Move To Hamstring Farm Workers Union Los Angeles-California labor pledged an all-out fight for support of the United Farm Workers against a November election initiative that threatens the survival of the fledgling union. The latest campaign to be waged in behalf of the UFW emerged here at the ninth biennial con vention of the California state AFL-CIO. The target is Proposition 22, the Agricultural Labor Relations initiative, which if passed would outlaw specified types of strikes, ~~_.-------------------------- picketing and boycotts in the farm industry. Among other anti-labor measures it would create a board with power to certify organizations as bargaining representatives, con duct elections and prevent ''unfair'' labor practices. JohD F. HeDDiDg, executive seeretary-treasurer of the state federatioD, aDnounced formatioD James Herman, President of Ships Clerks of a United Labor Committee to battle the proposal during aD ap Local 34 of the International Longshore pearance of UFW Director Cesar men's and Warehousemen's Union, ask~, Chavez at the coDveDtion.