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Strange, key role for pair of felons in recall lawsuit But those same petition circulators, an uncle and niece team from Arizona, ended up working only briefly on the recall -- and then started working for Davis supporters. After getting paid by Davis' camp, they now have ended up as key witnesses in a lawsuit challenging the recall. The lawsuit, filed Tuesday, contends that recall organizers knew Kim Dickson and Edward L. Garrett were convicted felons but hired them anyway in violation of the law. But recall organizers are suspicious, since the uncle- and-niece team who defected now are evidence in the anti-recall lawsuit. "I think we are seeing a dirty trick involving these two individuals who tried to work for us and then went to work for the governor," said Dave Gilliard, director of the Rescue California recall committee. "Obviously they have been paid for their efforts, and I think Gray Davis and his whole team should be ashamed." The credibility of the anti-recall lawsuit hinges on proof of misconduct by recall workers. But the controversy over Dickson and Garrett may not invalidate any signatures they collected: Recall organizers never turned them in, fearing the duo was tainted. The use of Dickson and Garrett as witnesses against the recall has exposed the underside of the petition-gathering process in California, a potentially lucrative business that includes contractors, subcontractors and nomadic petition circulators, some with shadowy pasts. TWO PETITIONS CIRCULATED In the recall, two separate petitions were circulated simultaneously. One was the official Davis recall petition organized by Republicans and their supporters. The second was a nonbinding petition opposing the recall itself, which anyone was eligible to sign. Davis supporters acknowledge Dickson and Garrett went to work for them on a separate anti-recall petition, but said they were paid only $1 a signature and not compensated in any way for their statements supporting the lawsuit. The pair said they left the recall campaign because they were treated poorly, not because they got a better offer. Paul Kiesel, an attorney who filed the class-action lawsuit to challenge the recall, said the two were not paid for their statements. "I suspect that the way these people came to our attention was they raised their hands and said, 'Listen, I got to tell you what is going on.' I don't believe they came over and said, 'OK, if you give me a job, I'll tell you whatever I did over there.' That would be just stupid," Kiesel said. Dickson and Garrett have provided lawyers working against the recall two written statements that are being used in the Superior Court lawsuit challenging the entire petition process. Davis supporters want all 1.6 million signatures closely examined, and any illegal ones thrown out. Dickson and Garrett could not be reached for comment. But in his statement, Garrett said petition organizer Derrick Lee from Arizona called him and asked him to work on the recall petition. He said Lee sent him a Greyhound bus ticket to Santa Ana and put him up at the Red Roof Inn. He said he was offered 75 cents a signature. "Derrick knows all about me," wrote Garrett, 54. "He knows I have been convicted of seven felonies."
HOME ADDRESS AN INN
In her statement, 43-year-old Dickson said Lee instructed her to use the address of the Red Roof Inn on her California residency form, so she could legally collect signatures. She said she quit in less than two weeks because Lee "checked out and just left me and my
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