旧金山被指付钱买假签名的男子身份曝光：50岁、来自底特律
位于加利福尼亚州旧金山县的旧金山市 Tenderloin 区，一名男子被指付钱让无家可归者在一份反对亿万富翁税的请愿书上签别人的名字，他与记者对峙的视频此前在网上疯传。ABC7新闻台调查组（I-Team）11月7日确认，这名男子是菲利普·德肖恩·布伦森（Philip Deshaun Brunson），现年50岁，住在密歇根州底特律市。
据ABC7报道，上个月，记者丹·诺伊斯（Dan Noyes）在 Tenderloin 区调查另一个选题时，看到一名女子把请愿文件摊在一辆汽车的引擎盖上。他上前拍照取证时，一名男子从副驾驶座出来，称诺伊斯侵犯了他的隐私；诺伊斯追问他是否在付钱请人签名时，这名男子朝他挥了一下，并说：「我没付给任何人钱。」社区倡导者JJ·史密斯（JJ Smith）此前已经拍到，这名男子与同伴付给一对无家可归夫妇每人5美元，让他们在请愿书上签别人的名字。
布伦森的身份是靠疯传视频认出来的。ABC7说，上个月的报道播出后，他们查过车牌、也尝试过其他辨认办法，仍无法确认这名男子的姓名；节目在网上走红后，他们收到来自全美各地的线索，其中一名住在中西部、从事签名收集工作的同行说自己一眼就认出了他，并指引记者找到布伦森的社交媒体账号。这名同行不愿露面或透露姓名，他说签名收集这一行圈子很小，自己在其他工作里见过布伦森，并说：「很多联署工作者都很气愤，因为我们的工作就是合法地、按规矩把事情做对。你永远赢不了这个系统，只会被抓到。」ABC7的背景核查显示，布伦森有犯罪记录、曾入狱。ABC7称，已通过布伦森的社交媒体、电子邮箱和电话留言联系他，截至11月7日报道时未获回应；报道没有说布伦森是否已被控罪。
官方与相关方已先后表态。加利福尼亚州州务卿雪莉·韦伯（Shirley Weber）是加州首席选举官员，她的发言人表示，该办公室已看过相关视频、一项调查正在进行：「我们正继续与执法部门密切合作，追究滥用公民倡议程序者的责任。」旧金山地方检察官办公室确认已收到此案的转介，但不评论案件状态。赞助这份反亿万富翁税提案的团体「建设更好的加州」（Building a Better California）发言人说，该团体已指示其竞选活动的签名承包商，剔除布伦森提交的任何签名，目前尚未找到这类签名；该发言人称，布伦森很可能已被ABC7的报道吓退，并说该团体对任何形式的欺诈都采取零容忍政策。
签名收集为何能引出这种生意？政治顾问布兰登·卡斯蒂略（Brandon Castillo）对ABC7说，他从事选票提案竞选约25年、与这场亿万富翁税之争的双方都无关；这个行业里确有「害群之马」，签名收集报酬可观，从业者会跨州赶场，网上群组会发布哪里有工作、每个签名付多少钱——反亿万富翁税一方每个签名付15美元，有人一年甚至一个短季就能挣到几十万美元。与此同时，提案赞助方与各县选举办公室都会核查签名真伪。圣马特奥县选举官员吉姆·伊里扎里（Jim Irizarry）介绍，每一个签名都会被数字化、与该选民以往的签名比对，哪怕有30万个签名，也要雇15至20名核查员逐一看；如发现联署工作者作弊，就会联系执法部门。他说：「我们面临的最大危险，是破坏选举程序的完整性。」他指出，这样做构成重罪，违规的联署工作者将面临牢狱之灾。
Man Accused of Paying for Fake Petition Signatures in San Francisco Identified as 50-Year-Old From Detroit
In the Tenderloin neighborhood of San Francisco, in San Francisco County, California, a man accused of paying homeless people to sign other people's names on petitions against a billionaire tax was seen confronting a reporter in a video that went viral. On November 7, the ABC7 News I-Team identified the man as Philip Deshaun Brunson, 50, who lives in Detroit, Michigan.
According to ABC7, last month reporter Dan Noyes was investigating a different story in the Tenderloin when he saw a woman with petitions spread across the hood of a car. As he approached and began taking pictures of the documents, a man emerged from the passenger seat and told him he was violating his privacy rights. When Noyes asked whether he was paying people, the man took a swing at him and said, "I ain't paid nobody." Neighborhood advocate JJ Smith had already captured video of the man and his partner paying a homeless couple $5 each to sign petitions in other people's names.
Brunson was identified because the earlier report went viral. ABC7 said that after last month's report aired, it checked the license plate and tried other means of identification but could not confirm the man's name. After the story spread online, messages arrived from across the country, including one from a signature gatherer in the Midwest who said he recognized Brunson immediately and pointed the I-Team to Brunson's social media. The gatherer, who asked not to show his face or use his name, said the signature-gathering community is small, that he had seen Brunson on other jobs, and that "there's a lot of petitioners that are upset, because our job is to go out there legally and do it the right way. You never beat the system; it never happens. You just get caught." ABC7 said a background check shows Brunson has a criminal history and spent time in prison. The I-Team said it left messages on Brunson's social media, email accounts and phone numbers but received no response as of its November 7 report, which did not say whether Brunson has been charged.
Officials and the sponsoring group have since responded. A spokesperson for California Secretary of State Shirley Weber, the state's chief elections officer, said her office has reviewed the video and that an investigation is ongoing: "We are continuing to work closely with law enforcement to hold those who abuse the initiative process accountable." The San Francisco District Attorney's Office confirmed it has received a referral but would not comment on the status of the case. A spokesperson for Building a Better California, the group sponsoring the anti-billionaire-tax measure, said it has instructed its campaign's signature contractor to screen out any and all signatures submitted by Brunson, but has so far found none; the spokesperson said Brunson likely got scared off by the ABC7 story, and that the group has a zero-tolerance policy against any type of fraud.
Political consultant Brandon Castillo, who has run ballot measure campaigns for about 25 years and is not involved with either side of the billionaire tax issue, told ABC7 that signature gathering can be so lucrative that people travel state to state for the work, with online groups posting where the jobs are and what they pay; the anti-billionaire-tax group paid $15 a signature, and some gatherers make hundreds of thousands of dollars over a year or even a short season. Sponsoring groups and county election offices check the validity of signatures. Jim Irizarry of San Mateo County explained that every signature is digitized and compared with that voter's signatures from past elections, that a person looks at every one even when there are 300,000 of them, with 15 to 20 signature verifiers hired for the task, and that officials contact law enforcement if a petition circulator appears to be cheating. "The greatest danger we have here is undermining the integrity of the electoral process," Irizarry said, noting that doing so is a felony and that a circulator who violates the law will go to jail.
来源：ABC7新闻台
发布：GSM·美国（发布链接）
图片来源：旧金山市政厅资料图（King of Hearts摄，CC BY-SA 3.0，经Wikimedia Commons；非事发现场图）
GSM Global · 本篇英文版 English edition of this story
