Battle of the dueling measures heats up

Jenifer Ragland and Noaki Schwartz

NEWPORT BEACH -- Greenlight initiative backer Allan Beek is being accused

of roughing up a worker seeking signatures for a rival ballot measure

outside Gelson’s Market, authorities said.

Although Newport Beach police did not arrest Beek, spokesman Sgt. Mike

McDermott said the department’s report was sent to the Orange County

district attorney’s office on Monday, where criminal battery charges

could be filed.

Beverly Sprague, who is employed by Anaheim-based JSM Inc. as a paid

petition circulator, told police that Beek “pulled her slightly toward

him and in the same motion pushed her aside to the right,” McDermott

said, adding that any form of unwanted touching is considered battery.

Beek then tried to force his own papers on the signature-gatherer’s

table, according to the police report. He allegedly fled the scene when

officers were on their way. A misdemeanor arrest can only be made when

the incident takes place in the presence of an officer, McDermott said.

There were no independent witnesses to the incident.

Numerous efforts to reach Sprague for comment were unsuccessful.

But Beek -- the lanky, 72-year-old gadfly and environmentalist who has

long fought against development in the city -- said he didn’t lay a

finger on Sprague.

“They verbally abused me quite a bit,” he said. “I didn’t touch her.”

Beek also denied fleeing the scene, saying he stayed around for a while

and even talked to the woman’s supervisor.

Beek for the past two weeks has been clashing with some of those

circulating petitions for the new initiative, which would make portions

of an existing law protecting residents from heavy traffic congestion

part of the City Charter.

It aims to compete for votes in the November election with the Greenlight

initiative, a measure that would require voter approval for certain

development projects.

Beek and other Greenlight supporters allege the signature-gatherers are

giving out false information about the initiative, including saying the

new measure would control or stop expansion of John Wayne Airport and

saying the measure is sponsored by Greenlight.

Beek had passed out fliers warning petitioners that they could “go to

jail” if they mislead people for signatures and attempted on several

occasions to provide the workers with a list of their alleged

misstatements.

Bob Wynn, a supporter of the countermeasure, said he and others have made

a concerted effort to ensure the petitionersare not misrepresenting

themselves. Every signature-gatherer has been provided with a list of

three “talking points” and has been asked to stick closely to them.

“To the extent we can administer and regulate all petition-seekers, we do

that,” Wynn said.

The group has about 7,500 signatures -- most of which they believe are

valid. They will need the Orange County Registrar of Voters to validate

at least 6,700 signatures by mid-June in order to qualify for the ballot.

In late May, Beek sent a letter to the Orange County district attorney’s

office asking for enforcement of the section of the elections code that

deals with gathering signatures.

In response, the attorneys for the countermeasure effort sent Beek a

letter informing him that interfering with the petitioning process also

violates the elections code.

The strongly worded letter also demanded that Beek refrain from “shouting

at close range” at circulators, “thrusting literature into the faces and

hands” of potential signers or “stalking or chasing” signature-gatherers.