Santa Cruz United Continues to Deceive the Public About its Paid Signature Gatherers

In recent developments, on September 27, Garrett Philipp commented about Santa Cruz United's paid signature gatherers on the Santa Mierda hate blog, stating "it is a handful of part time paid people hired recently".

Santa Cruz United members have been denying the existence of the paid signature gatherers for over a month. On August 25, Santa Cruz United's Jane Becker stated on Santa Mierda that "nobody" was being paid to collect signatures for the recall. On that same day she corrected herself, stating that three family members of a Santa Cruz United volunteer were paid to gather signatures.

Santa Cruz United steering committee member Peter Cook directly admitted to the Santa Cruz Sentinel, in an article published on September 3, that signature gatherers for the recall campaign were being paid.

At that time, Santa Cruz United still described themselves on the donation page of their website as a "lean, all-volunteer organization". The page was updated following the publication of a report that was critical of Santa Cruz United for the deceptive content on its website. Shortly after the publication of that article on September 3, Santa Cruz United updated their donation page to read as follows: "Santa Cruz United effort is powered by an amazing volunteer group. Expenses include this website, printing, meeting rooms, filing fees, records requests and small miscellaneous costs" (see photo).

Santa Cruz United organizer Carol Polhamus has made a number of deceptive statements, and has dodged questions from the public, about paid recall petition signature gatherers.

"Our tablers are 100% volunteers, and I know that because I organize them and assign them," Polhamus stated on a post to Councilmember Glover's Facebook page in August.

Polhamus, to this day, will not admit publicly that Santa Cruz United is paying its signature gatherers, let alone how much they are being paid. Community members believe they are being paid $6 to $10 per signature, based on what they are being told by the signature gatherers themselves.

Read more:

Santa Cruz United Offers Wine for Signatures (September 16)

Recall Campaign Admits Canvassers are Being Paid; Website Still Says Effort is 'All-Volunteer' (September 3)

Reports of Paid Recall Canvassers Continue to Circulate (August 30)

Santa Cruz United's Jane Becker Admits Some Recall Signature Gatherers were Paid (August 25)

Community Members Report Encounters with Paid Recall Canvassers (August 23)

More information about the campaign to stop the recalls can be found: here.

A list of donors to the recall campaign can be found: here.

A list of businesses to boycott whose owners are supporting the recall effort can be found: here.