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Overaggressive Petition Promoting

RECEIVED Tue., Oct. 30, 2012

Dear Editor,
    After voting in the primary election last May, I was approached by a woman after leaving the polling place. She asked me if I would sign a petition expressing support for moving the city of Austin municipal election dates from May to November.
    Since I am in favor of combining election dates in the interest of saving taxpayer money, I said yes.
    However, the petition on the clipboard I was handed was a petition endorsing the 10-1 geographic representative council-member plan. I declined to sign, saying, “This is not the petition you asked me to sign.”
    No doubt an underhanded ploy, but worse was the woman followed me to my car, berating me, saying, “What’s the matter with you, don’t you believe in democracy? Why won’t you sign this petition? Are you against representative government?”
    No need to repeat the remainder of the dialogue, but I would suggest the following: This is one issue where honest and informed voters can disagree honestly, and there is nothing gained by hurling accusations against those who hold a differing view. That was my view then, and it is my view now.
Steve Foster
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