RELEASE: Connerly Petitioner Wanted in Three States, Gathering Signatures On the Streets of Missouri

Submitted by General Content on Wed, 04/23/2008 - 4:43pm.
WENTZVILLE – This Sunday Wentzville Police found a Missouri Civil Rights Initiative petitioner named John Wynne (in photo at left) who is wanted in three states (ed. note: Washington, Indiana and Oregon) for voter fraud related charges.  Police were responding to a call at Kohl’s Department store about a petitioner and two community volunteers who were educating voters about the damaging impacts of the initiative.

The charges of “obtaining signatures by deception” are misdemeanors that do not warrant extradition so Wentzville Police did not take Mr. Wynne into custody on Sunday.  The petitioner has been spotted by community volunteers consistently over the last several weeks and therefore have every reason to believe he is still on the street gathering signatures for MoCRI.

Community, faith, labor, business and education leaders have lined up across the state to oppose this initiative and have mobilized to educate voters.  Teams of voter educators throughout the state stand alongside MoCRI petitioners to make sure that they approach citizens honestly and that citizens are aware of the impact the initiative would have on valued public programs.

List of community leaders that have done voter education alongside John Wynne in the last month include Professor Gerda Ray of the University of Missouri St Louis; Clara Faatz of the Coalition of Labor Union Women; and Patrice Rosner, national Director of Churches Uniting in Christ; Lara Granich, director of the Missouri Jobs with Justice coalition.

“We wanted to monitor whether John Wynne was gathering signatures honestly, but he was unwilling to have us witness,” said Lara Granich, director of Missouri Jobs with Justice.  “On Sunday we followed him among six sites in two hours in Wentzville and he would leave every time we got within earshot.”

Copies of the police report are available from Lara Granich (314.640.8498) or the Wentzville Police Department Records Division (636.327.5105)

“Characters like John Wynne are why the grassroots, sidewalk-by-sidewalk voter education efforts are so important,” said WE CAN spokesman Brandon Davis.  “The only way to know that voters aren’t being tricked is if we’re standing alongside MoCRI’s petitioners.”

For more National Ballot Access and their director Edee Baggett’s long history of questionable practices in signature gathering on visit StopBallotFraud.org. 
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