Thanks to your diligence and the work of KnowThyNeighbor.org, grocers and retailers have been alerted to reports of petition circulator fraud taking place at stores across the State.
As a result, the Massachusetts Food Association has acknowledged wrongdoing and will be tossing out hundreds of signatures gathered by workers hired to pass the wine petition since they believe that petition was used illegaly to dupe citizens into signing a second document, the anti-gay marriage petition. The President of the Massachusetts Food Association, Chris Flynn, stated in a Worcester Telegram and Gazette story yesterday that "We don't condone these bait-and-switch tactics. What happened was illegal."
Unfortunately, KnowThyNeighbor.org has received no indication that anti-gay marriage petition sponsors will be joining the Massachusetts Food Association in discarding the tainted signatures gathered by these workers on their behalf.
Individual grocery store chains have also reacted positively after being made aware of fraud reports. Starting the day after our September 25 encounter with "buck-a-signature" petition circulators, Wild Oats has not allowed petition gatherers on their premises. Now Stop & Shop, Shaws, and Star Market have joined. We must continue to monitor activity at these stores and make sure anti-gay marriage petition circulators are not allowed to return. Be sure to scrutinize petition circulators at Target store locations especially as they have been the source of many complaints.
Report any suspicious activity directly to store managers and to the contacts listed below:
Corportate Contacts
TARGET, Guest Relations, (800) 440-0680
Shaws/Star Market, Judy Chong, (508) 313-3318
Stop and Shop, Rob keene, (617) 770-6023
Massachusetts Food Association, Chris Flynn, (617) 542-3086
Massachusetts Retailers Association, John Hurst, (617) 523-1900
Civil Investigator, Attorney General's Office
Nicholas Paras
nicholas.paras@ago.state.ma.us
(617) 727-2200 x 2883
KnowThyNeighbor.org Fraud Alert
Send email to reportfraud@knowthyneighbor.org.
Tom Lang, Director
