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Monday, March 12, 2007
Citizen Servatius CITIZEN SERVATIUS: Observer, Not Petitioners Misleading Readers
Posted By Tara Servatius on Mon, Mar 12, 2007 at 9:25 AM
The folks at the Charlotte Observer are in a tizzy over the idea of voters actually being allowed to have a say -- God forbid! -- on whether they want to keep the half cent sales tax for mass transit, and the multi-billion dollar boondoggle of a light rail line that goes with it.
The paper's editorial staff used words like "mislead," "unseemly" and "fraud" to describe the efforts of petition gatherers paid by the group "Stop the Train" to get the 48,000 signatures they need for a revote on the half-cent sales tax for mass transit.
But who is misleading whom? In a Tuesday editorial, the Observer's editorial board wrote this about the petition Stop the Train is circulating:
Yes, if you take the time to read the fine print legalese, you may understand you're signing to force a new vote on the transit sales tax. Many people don't read it, though.
Fine print? Legalese? You'd have to be half-blind or half-witted -- I'm not arguing that the Observer's editorial board isn't -- to describe the wording at the top of the petition that way. But don't take my word for it. Download the petition, print it out and decide for yourself.
The version online looks small, as most PDFs do when viewed online, which may have tripped the Observer up. Right now I'm looking at a copy I printed. It's exactly four feet away (I measured) and I can read every word written in what looks to be a 12-point font across the top of it.
The five-line explanation of what the petition is about was written in legal language not to confuse people, but to meet state and board of elections legal requirements. (The Observer folks know this.)
It's not hard to understand, either.
The petition clearly says the signer supports a repeal of "the levy of the one-half percent (1/2%) local sales and use tax for public transportation systems theretofore levied after a referendum in 1998."
Again, I typed that while reading the petition from four feet away.
Look for more misleading and unseemly reporting and editorializing on this from the Big O in weeks to come. The paper's executives and their golf partners have a lot riding on that train.
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