The group behind the effort to build a massive video slots and entertainment complex on New York Avenue in Northeast D.C. is making a slight retreat as it has withdrawn about 10% of the 3,800-some petitions submitted to get a measure approving D.C. gambling on the Nov. 2 ballot.
The Post reports that the group’s lawyer, John Ray, listed 389 petitions that the initiative’s pushers “would like to withdraw.” Three petition circulators told the D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics that they did not witness any of the signatures on their sheets.
The elections board was not able to locate 45 petition circulators when it wanted to question them.
The District is no stranger to signature scandals. In 2002, Mayor Anthony Williams’ re-election bid was mired in scandal when D.C. Republicans found hundreds of fake signatures, including United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan and countless other celebrities and notables, on petitions to get the mayor on the Democratic ballot. DCist notes that Lyndon Johnson was able to manipulate Texas ballot boxes, aldermen in Chicago may have done the same in 1960 for John F. Kennedy, and in Florida … well, is still in dispute. In the District, we can’t skew election politics where it would have any sort of national impact, we’re only creating silly messes for ourselves to worry about.
In semi-related signature-gathering news, the City Paper reports that Adam Eidinger, the Statehood Green candidate challenging D.C. Shadow Rep. Ray Browne for his phantom House seat, is crying foul. Many of Browne’s signatures cannot be read because they are on shoddy photocopies, Eidinger says. Browne is seeking a third term and has been endorsed by the city council.
