Anti-AIDS Initiative Probed for Illegal Sign-Up Methods

The state attorney general’s office is investigating allegations that workers may have been illegally recruited from other states to collect signatures for a controversial anti-AIDS ballot measure backed by followers of Lyndon LaRouche.

Also being investigated is the possibility that some signature gatherers, using telephone directories, simply forged signatures on petitions that helped qualify the initiative for the November ballot.

State investigators returned Thursday from St. Joseph, Mo., where they had questioned several residents who reportedly responded to a newspaper advertisement seeking workers to come to California to gather signatures.

State law requires that initiative petition circulators be residents and registered voters of California, said Ellen Peter, deputy attorney general.

Register Complaints

Peter said the investigation, which she stressed was still in a preliminary stage, was an outgrowth of a newspaper story in St. Joseph reporting that several residents had answered the ad and returned from California with complaints about the signature-gathering operation and how they were treated.

Peter said it was too early to know how many workers were involved, whether workers were recruited from other states as well and whether the investigation could have any effect on the initiative’s eligibility for the November ballot.

The St. Joseph Gazette reported that the workers were recruited by Stanley I. Dale III, a former St. Joseph resident. Dale was working for Ask America, a Sacramento telemarketing firm that had been hired by the initiative sponsors to gather signatures, the paper said.

Dale could not be reached Thursday, but told the Gazette he had done nothing improper.

A prosecutor in St. Joseph notified the office of Atty. Gen. John Van de Kamp of the complaints.

Peter said that if the petition circulators were not residents and properly registered, there could be potential violations of several laws, including perjury, fraud and unlawfully collecting signatures.

Khushro Ghandhi, president of the committee that sponsored the initiative, said the investigation appeared to be part of a campaign against the measure. “You’re going to find that everything that can be thrown against this initiative will be,” he said.

‘Sifted Out’ Petitions

Ghandhi denied that fraudulent signatures were submitted, saying that the voters’ signatures were verified by campaign workers before they were submitted. And, he said, Ask America “sifted out” and did not submit petitions it found to include fraudulent signatures.

Ghandhi said he knew nothing about how Dale or Ask America may have recruited out-of-state workers. “We do what many people (who sponsor initiatives) do,” he said. “We hired a contractor.”

The initiative, which has been denounced by the California Medical Assn. and public health officials, would redefine AIDS as an infectious disease, similar to measles and tuberculosis, and would authorize health officials to use a variety of controls, including quarantine, to restrict the activities of victims and carriers.

Proponents of the measure have called AIDS more deadly than a thermonuclear war, but its critics condemn it as a violation of civil rights. Most scientists agree that AIDS cannot be transmitted through the air or by casual contact.