D.C. slots foes win round in signature challenge

Derrill Holly

Tuesday, July 27, 2004 | 9 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- Opponents of a ballot initiative designed to allow development of a casino in the nation's capital drew a partial victory Monday. Regulators who will decide whether the measure should be on the Nov. 2 general election ballot ruled that petition circulators had to personally observe all of the signatures they gathered.

"The circulator must be in the presence of each person who signed the petition at the time the signature was appended to the petition sheet," said Wilma Lewis, the chairwoman of the District of Columbia Board of Elections and Ethics.

The three-member DCBOEE panel's ruling means that circulators also had to be aware of any promises or claims made to prospective petition signers.

The ruling left open the possibility that nonresidents could have legally played a role in assisting D.C. residents who were at least 18 years old in gathering signatures, but only residents could officially serve as circulators. Lewis suggested the board might examine the extent of nonresidents' involvement during review proceedings expected to continue through Wednesday.

"There's been more than ample testimony on the record that non D.C. residents circulated the petitions," said Dorothy Brizill, founder of the government reform group, D.C. Watch. Brizill and other petition challengers, organized under the name D.C. Against Slots, have challenged the validity of most of the more than 51,000 signatures collected by initiative backers.

Proponents of the measure, which would legalize Video Lottery Terminals and clear the way for construction of a $510 million entertainment complex featuring 3,500 gaming machines, have to have 17,599 valid signatures to place the measure on the ballot.

"They also have to have a certain distribution per ward, and when you look at the signatures, they're just not there," said Brizill.

The DCBOEE began questioning petition circulators, witnesses and organizers involved in the process last Wednesday. As many as 30 additional witnesses have been subpoenaed to appear this week.

During Monday's testimony, a woman acknowledged being paid to sign her name as a witness on blank petition forms at the downtown hotel where she worked as a housekeeper.

"I thought I only had signed 15, but somebody said I signed 38," said Dorothy Gerst, testifying under an agreement granting her immunity from prosecution.

Augusteen Cowan, who said he worked as a paid circulator, claimed responsibility for collecting hundreds of signatures on 79 petition sheets over a five-day period. He enlisted the help of a few friends to gather signatures outside of a supermarket, a shopping center and at the Anacostia Metrorail Station.

"I completed 80 percent of the petitions myself," testified Cowan.

Asked to check a sample of the forms he allegedly completed, Cowan identified only ten of 16 sheets as forms he personally circulated.